shallow

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See also: Shallow

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English schalowe (“not deep, shallow”); apparently related to Middle English schalde, schold, scheld, schealde (“shallow”), from Old English sċeald (“shallow”), Low German Scholl (“shallow water”). See also shoal.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈʃaləʊ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈʃæl.oʊ/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -æləʊ
  • Hyphenation: shal‧low

Adjective[edit]

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
    • (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      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.
    • (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      the sound perfecter and not so shallow and jarring
  7. (tennis) Not far forward, close to the net
    • 2012 June 28, Jamie Jackson, “Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal”, in the Guardian‎[1]:
      Rosol spurned the chance to finish off a shallow second serve by spooning into the net, and a wild forehand took the set to 5-4, with the native of Prerov required to hold his serve for victory.

Antonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun[edit]

shallow (plural shallows)

  1. A shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water.
    The ship ran aground in an unexpected shallow.
    • (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      A swift stream is not heard in the channel, but upon shallows of gravel.
    • (Can we date this quote by Dryden and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      dashed on the shallows of the moving sand
    • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine:
      It happened that, as I was watching some of the little people bathing in a shallow, one of them was seized with cramp and began drifting downstream.
  2. A fish, the rudd.

Usage notes[edit]

  • Usually used in the plural form.

Translations[edit]

shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water

See also[edit]

Verb[edit]

shallow (third-person singular simple present shallows, present participle shallowing, simple past and past participle shallowed)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To make or become less deep.
    • 2009 February 6, Andrew Z. Krug et al., “Signature of the End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction in the Modern Biota”, in Science‎[2], volume 323, number 5915, DOI:10.1126/science.1164905, pages 767-771:
      The shallowing of Cenozoic age-frequency curves from tropics to poles thus appears to reflect the decreasing probability for genera to reach and remain established in progressively higher latitudes ( 9 ).

Anagrams[edit]

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