• (British) IPA: /ˈʃaləʊ/
• (America) IPA: /ˈʃæl.oʊ/

shallow (comparative shallower, superlative shallowest)

1. Having little depth; significantly less deep than wide.

   This crater is relatively shallow.

   Saute the onions in a shallow pan.

2. Extending not far downward.

   The water is shallow here.

3. Concerned mainly with superficial matters.

   It was a glamorous but shallow lifestyle.

4. Lacking interest or substance.

   The acting is good, but the characters are shallow.

5. Not intellectually deep; not penetrating deeply; simple; not wise or knowing.

   shallow learning

   • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: Printed by W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, OCLC 1086746628 ↗:

     The king was neither so shallow, nor so ill advertised, as not to perceive the intention of the French king.

6. (obsolete) Not deep in tone.
   • 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, Or, A Naturall Historie: In Ten Centuries

     the sound perfecter and not so shallow and jarring

7. (tennis) Not far forward, close to the net

• deep

• French: peu profond
• German: flach; (of bodies of water also) seicht, untief
• Italian: superficiale
• Portuguese: raso, superficial
• Russian: ме́лкий
• Spanish: poco profundo, superficial

• French: peu profond
• German: seicht
• Italian: poco profondo
• Portuguese: superficial
• Russian: ме́лкий
• Spanish: superficial

• French: superficiel
• German: oberflächlich
• Italian: superficiale
• Portuguese: superficial
• Russian: пове́рхностный
• Spanish: superficial

• French: superficiel
• German: oberflächlich
• Italian: superficiale
• Portuguese: desinteressante
• Russian: пове́рхностный
• Spanish: superficial, desinteresante

shallow (plural shallows)

1. A shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water.

   The ship ran aground in an unexpected shallow.

   • 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, Or, A Naturall Historie: In Ten Centuries

     A swift stream is not heard in the channel, but […] upon shallows of gravel.

   • 1697, John Dryden translating Virgil, The Aeneid

     dashed on the shallows of the moving sand

2. A fish, the rudd.

• French: haut-fond, baisse, bas-fond (dated)
• German: Untiefe
• Italian: secca
• Portuguese: raso, rasa
• Russian: мель
• Spanish: bajo, bajofondo

shallow (shallows, present participle shallowing; past and past participle shallowed)

1. (ambitransitive) To make or become less deep.

1. Surname