shallow
see also: Shallow
Etymology

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-.

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

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
Antonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

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.
Translations Verb

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

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

Shallow
Proper noun
  1. Surname.



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