shallow
Noun · Verb · AdjectiveOpen English WordNet
Adjective (3)shallower, shallowest
- lacking physical depth; having little spatial extension downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or outward from a center“shallow water”“a shallow dish”“a shallow cut”“a shallow closet”“established a shallow beachhead”“hit the ball to shallow left field”Opposite deepSimilar ankle-deep, superficial, neritic, reefy, fordableRelates to depth, deepness
- not deep or strong; not affecting one deeply“shallow breathing”“a night of shallow fretful sleep”“in a shallow trance”Opposite deepSimilar light, wakefulRelates to depth, deepness
- lacking depth of intellect or knowledge; concerned only with what is obvious“shallow people”“his arguments seemed shallow and tedious”Opposite profoundSimilar superficial
Noun (1)shallows
- a stretch of shallow waterSynonyms: shoalType of body of water, water
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Adjective not deep
- Spanish
- poco profundo
- French
- peu profond
- German
- flach
- Italian
- poco profondo
- Portuguese
- raso
- Turkish
- sığ
- Russian
- неглубо́кий neglubókij
- Arabic
- ضَحِل ḍaḥil
- Chinese
- 浅 qiǎn
- Japanese
- 浅い asai
23 more languages
- Dutch
- ondiep
- Polish
- płytki
- Swedish
- grund
- Greek
- ρηχός richós
- Korean
- 얕다 yatda
- Indonesian
- cetek
- Vietnamese
- nông
- Hungarian
- sekély
- Portuguese (PT)
- raso
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 汱 qiǎn
- Albanian
- cekët
- Catalan
- superficial
- Czech
- mělký
- Danish
- lav
- Esperanto
- malprofunda
- Finnish
- matala
- Icelandic
- grunnur
- Latvian
- sekls
- Norwegian
- grunn
- Romanian
- plat
- Scottish Gaelic
- eu-domhainn
- Serbo-Croatian
- plitak
- Welsh
- bas
Adjective extending not far downward
- Spanish
- poco profundo
- German
- seicht
- Portuguese
- superficial
- Turkish
- sığ
- Arabic
- ضحل ḍaḥl
- Chinese
- 浅 qiǎn
- Dutch
- ondiep
- Polish
- płytki
- Swedish
- grund
- Greek
- ρηχός richós
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. schalowe, probably originally, sloping or shelving; cf. Icel. skjālgr wry, squinting, AS. sceolh, D. & G. scheel, OHG. schelah. Cf. Shelve to slope, Shoal shallow.
1. Not deep; having little depth; shoal. “Shallow brooks, and rivers wide.” John Milton
2. Not deep in tone. rare
The sound perfecter and not so shallow and jarring.— Francis, Baron Verulam Bacon
3. Not intellectually deep; not profound; not penetrating deeply; simple; not wise or knowing; ignorant; superficial; as, a shallow mind; shallow learning.
The king was neither so shallow, nor so ill advertised, as not to perceive the intention of the French king.— Francis, Baron Verulam Bacon
Deep versed in books, and shallow in himself.— John Milton
1. A place in a body of water where the water is not deep; a shoal; a flat; a shelf.
A swift stream is not heard in the channel, but upon shallows of gravel.— Francis, Baron Verulam Bacon
Dashed on the shallows of the moving sand.— John Dryden
2. Zoology The rudd. dialect (England)
To make shallow. Sir Thomas Browne
To become shallow, as water.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54