From Middle English schalowe; apparently related to Middle English schalde, schold, scheld, schealde, from Old English sċeald, from Proto-Germanic *skal-, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁-.

• (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.

   Sauté 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; flat; one-dimensional.

   The acting is good, but the characters are shallow.

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

   Synonyms: skin-deep

   shallow learning

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

     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.
   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC ↗:

     the sound perfecter and not so shallow and jarring

7. (tennis) Not far forward, close to the net.
8. (of an angle) Not steep; close to horizontal.

   a shallow climb

   a shallow descent

   a shallow bank angle

• deep

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

• French: peu profond
• German: seicht
• Italian: poco profondo
• Portuguese: superficial
• Russian: ме́лкий
• Spanish: superficial, playo, improfundo, inhondo

• 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.

   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC ↗:

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

   • 1697, Virgil, translated by John Dryden, The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:

     dashed on the shallows of the moving sand

   • 1941, Theodore Roethke, “The Premonition”, in Open House; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, 1975, →ISBN, page 6:

     He dipped his hand in the shallow:
     Water ran over and under
     Hair on a narrow wrist bone; […]

2. A fish, the rudd.
3. (historical) A costermonger's barrow.
   • 1871, Belgravia, volume 14, page 213:

     You might have gone there quite as easily, and enjoyed yourself much more, had your mode of conveyance been the railway, or a hansom, or even a costermonger's shallow.

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

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

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

1. Surname.