- [countable]
a large area of sea that is partly surrounded by land 海灣 the Gulf of Mexico 墨西哥灣
- the Gulf[singular]
the Persian Gulf, the area of sea between the Arabian peninsula and Iran 波斯灣 - [countable, usually singular] gulf (between A and B)
a large difference between two people or groups in the way that they think, live or feel 分歧；鴻溝；隔閡 The gulf between rich and poor is enormous. 貧富懸殊。 It felt as if a gulf had opened up between his life and mine. 我感覺他的生活似乎和我的有了隔閡。
Extra ExamplesA gulf of mistrust still exists between them. 他們之間依然存在着極大的不信任。 For many teachers, there existed an unbridgeable gulf between home and school life. 對許多教師來說，家庭生活和學校生活之間存在不可逾越的鴻溝。 Other factors widened the gulf that separated rich from poor. 其他因素加大了貧富差距。 The documentary illustrated the gulf between industrialized and developing countries. 這部紀錄片展示了工業化國家和發展中國家之間的差距。 There appeared to be a growing gulf between the prosperous south and the declining towns of the north. 繁榮的南方和衰退的北方城市之間的差距似乎在不斷擴大。 This atrocity has created a huge gulf between the two groups. 這一暴行在兩個群體之間造成了巨大的隔閡。 the huge gulf in level between professional and amateur teams 職業隊和業餘隊之間巨大的水平差距 the ideological gulf that separated the two branches of the movement 致使運動兩個分支分裂的意識形態鴻溝 the yawning gulf that separates the two cultures 將兩種文化分隔開的鴻溝
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- big
- deep
- enormous
- …
- create
- widen
- emphasize
- …
- exist
- divide somebody/something
- separate somebody/something
- …
- gulf between
- gulf in
- gulf of
- …
- [countable]
a wide deep opening in the ground （地面的）裂口，深坑，溝壑
Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French golfe, from Italian golfo, based on Greek kolpos ‘bosom, gulf’.
Idioms
bridge the gap/gulf/divide (between A and B)
to reduce or get rid of the differences that exist between two things or groups of people 消除（甲、乙間的）隔閡／鴻溝／分歧 The new degree course aims to bridge the gulf between education and industry. 新的學位課程旨在彌合教育和實業之間的脫節。