The word “stygian” (STIJE-ee-un), which is sometimes capitalized, comes from Greek mythology - from the river Styx in the underworld. It has, therefore, come to mean hellish, dark and dismal.

Example (as used by Catherine Slessor in The Architectural Review): “The gleaming steel catches the sunlight, casting a play of sparkling reflections and shadows into the Stygian, subterranean depths.”

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