shallow

English

Etymology

From Middle English schalowe (“not deep, shallow”); apparently related to Old English sceald (“shallow”). See also shoal.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaləʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈʃæl.oʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æləʊ
• Hyphenation: shal‧low

Adjective

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

   • Francis Bacon

     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.
   • Francis Bacon

     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

• deep

Derived terms

• given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow

Translations

having little depth and significantly less deep than wide

• Arabic: ضَحِل‏‎ (ḍaḥil)
• Armenian: ծանծաղ (hy) (cancał)
• Bashkir: һай (hay)
• Basque: azaleko (eu)
• Catalan: pla (ca), poc profund, superficial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 淺 (zh), 浅 (zh) (qiǎn)

• Czech: mělký (cs)
• Danish: flad (da), lav (da)
• Esperanto: malprofunda
• Finnish: matala (fi), laakea (fi)
• French: peu profond
• Georgian: მარჩხობი (marčxobi), წყალმარჩხი (c̣q̇almarčxi)
• German: seicht (de), flach (de)
• Greek: ρηχός (el) (richós)
• Hungarian: lapos (hu), sekély (hu)
• Interlingua: pauco profunde
• Italian: superficiale (it)
• Japanese: 浅い (ja) (あさい, asai)

• Latgalian: seklys
• Latvian: sekls (lv)
• Lithuanian: seklus
• Macedonian: плиток (plítok)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flat (no), lav (no), grunn (no)

  Nynorsk: flat, lav, grunn

• Occitan: superficial
• Persian: کم عمق‏‎ (kam-omq), تنک‏‎ (fa) (tonok), تخت‏‎ (fa) (taxt)
• Polish: płytki (pl)
• Portuguese: raso (pt), superficial (pt)
• Romanian: plat (ro), puțin adânc
• Russian: ме́лкий (ru) (mélkij), неглубо́кий (ru) (neglubókij)
• Scottish Gaelic: eu-domhainn
• Slovak: plytký
• Spanish: poco profundo m, superficial (es)
• Swedish: ytlig (sv) c
• Ukrainian: мілкий (milkýj), неглибокий (nehlybókyj)

extending not far downward

• Armenian: ծանծաղ (hy) (cancał)
• Bashkir: һай (hay)
• Burmese: တိမ် (my) (tim)
• Catalan: superficial (ca)
• Czech: mělký (cs)
• Danish: lav (da), lavvandet (da) [body of water]
• Dutch: ondiep (nl)
• Finnish: matala (fi)
• French: peu profond
• German: seicht (de)
• Greek: ρηχός (el) (richós)
• Hungarian: sekély (hu)
• Indonesian: dangkal (id)
• Italian: poco profondo m

• Latvian: sekls (lv)
• Macedonian: плиток (plítok)
• Maori: pāpaku, pakiranga (of the ground, soil)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: grunn (no)

  Nynorsk: grunn

• Polish: płytki (pl)
• Portuguese: superficial (pt)
• Russian: ме́лкий (ru) (mélkij)
• Scottish Gaelic: eu-domhainn
• Spanish: superficial (es)
• Swedish: ytlig (sv) c, grund (sv) (when referring to water)
• Turkish: sığ (tr)
• Ukrainian: мілкий (milkýj)

concerned mainly with superficial matters

• Catalan: superficial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 膚淺 (zh), 肤浅 (zh) (fūqiǎn), 淺薄 (zh), 浅薄 (zh) (qiǎnbó)

• Czech: povrchní
• Danish: overfladisk
• Dutch: oppervlakkig (nl)
• Finnish: pinnallinen (fi)
• French: superficiel (fr)
• German: oberflächlich (de)
• Greek: ρηχός (el) (richós)
• Hungarian: sekélyes
• Italian: superficiale (it) m, f

• Japanese: 浅い (ja) (あさい, asai)
• Macedonian: површен (póvršen)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: overfladisk, overflatisk

  Nynorsk: overflatisk

• Portuguese: superficial (pt)
• Russian: пове́рхностный (ru) (povérxnostnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: eu-domhainn, faoin
• Spanish: superficial (es)
• Swedish: ytlig (sv) c
• Turkish: sığ (tr)
• Ukrainian: поверхневий (poverxnévyj)

lacking interest or substance

• Catalan: superficial (ca)
• Czech: povrchní
• Danish: åndsforladt
• Finnish: pinnallinen (fi)
• French: superficiel (fr)
• German: oberflächlich (de)
• Greek: ρηχός (el) (richós)
• Hungarian: felszínes (hu), felületes (hu)
• Italian: superficiale (it)

• Macedonian: површен (póvršen)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: overfladisk, overflatisk

  Nynorsk: overflatisk

• Portuguese: desinteressante (pt)
• Russian: пове́рхностный (ru) (povérxnostnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: faoin, eu-domhainn
• Spanish: superficial (es), desinteresante m
• Swedish: ytlig (sv) c

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

• Dutch: ondiep (1, 2), oppervlakkig (3, 4)
• Italian: poco profondo (1, 2); superficiale (3)
• Korean: 얕은 (yateun)
• Romanian: superficial

• Spanish: poco profundo (1, 2); superficial (3,4)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} grund
• Turkish: sığ (2, 3, 4)

Noun

shallow (plural shallows)

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

   The ship ran aground in an unexpected shallow.

   • Francis Bacon

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

   • Dryden

     dashed on the shallows of the moving sand

2. A fish, the rudd.

Usage notes

• Usually used in the plural form.

Translations

shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water

• Albanian: cekëtinë (sq) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 淺灘 (zh), 浅滩 (zh) (qiǎntān)

• Czech: mělčina (cs) f
• Dutch: ondiepte (nl) f
• French: haut-fond (fr) m, baisse (fr) f, bas-fond (fr) m (dated)
• German: Untiefe (de) f
• Indonesian: dangkalan (id)
• Italian: secca (it) f
• Japanese: 川瀬 (かわせ, kawase)

• Korean: 여울 (ko) (yeoul)
• Macedonian: плитак m (plítak)
• Maori: pāti
• Polish: mielizna (pl) f
• Portuguese: raso (pt), rasa (pt)
• Russian: мель (ru) f (melʹ), о́тмель (ru) f (ótmelʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: tanalachd f
• Spanish: bajo (es) m, bajofondo m
• Swedish: grund (sv) c
• Ukrainian: мілина f (milyná)

See also

• shoal
• sandbar
• sandbank

Verb

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

1. 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

• hallows