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)
- Having little depth; significantly less deep than wide.
- This crater is relatively shallow.
- Saute the onions in a shallow pan.
- Extending not far downward.
- The water is shallow here.
- Concerned mainly with superficial matters.
- It was a glamorous but shallow lifestyle.
- Lacking interest or substance.
- The acting is good, but the characters are shallow.
- 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: […] 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.
- (obsolete) Not deep in tone.
- 1631, [Francis Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] VVilliam Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:
- the sound perfecter and not so shallow and jarring
- (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]
having little depth and significantly less deep than wide
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extending not far downward
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concerned mainly with superficial matters
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lacking interest or substance
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Not intellectually deep; not penetrating deeply; simple; not wise or knowing.
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- 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
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Noun[edit]
shallow (plural shallows)
- A shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water.
- The ship ran aground in an unexpected shallow.
- 1631, [Francis Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] VVilliam Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:
- A swift stream is not heard in the channel, but […] upon shallows of gravel.
- 1697, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432:
- 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.
- A fish, the rudd.
- (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.
- 1871, Belgravia (volume 14, page 213)
Usage notes[edit]
- Usually used in the plural form.
Translations[edit]
shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water
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See also[edit]
Verb[edit]
shallow (third-person singular simple present shallows, present participle shallowing, simple past and past participle shallowed)
- (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: , 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 ).
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