Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Measuring little from bottom to top or surface; lacking physical depth.
- adj. Lacking depth of intellect, emotion, or knowledge: "This is a shallow parody of America” ( Lloyd Rose).
- adj. Marked by insufficient inhalation of air; weak: shallow respirations.
- adj. In the part of a playing area that is closer to home plate: shallow left field.
- n. A part of a body of water of little depth; a shoal. Often used in the plural: abandoned the boat in the shallows.
- v. To make or become shallow.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Not deep; of little depth: as, a shallow brook; a shallow place; a shallow vessel or dish.
- Not deep intellectually; superficial: as, a shallow person; a shallow mind.
- n. A place where the water is not deep; a shoal; a shelf; a flat; a bank.
- To make shallow; decrease the depth of.
- To become shallow; decrease in depth: as, the water shallows rapidly as one approaches the bar.
- n. The rudd, a fish.
Wiktionary
- adj. Having little depth; significantly less deep than wide.
- adj. Extending not far downward.
- adj. Concerned mainly with superficial matters.
- adj. Lacking interest or substance.
- adj. tennis Not far forward, close to the net
- n. A shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water.
- v. To make or become less deep
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not deep; having little depth; shoal.
- adj. rare Not deep in tone.
- adj. Not intellectually deep; not profound; not penetrating deeply; simple; not wise or knowing; ignorant; superficial.
- n. A place in a body of water where the water is not deep; a shoal; a flat; a shelf.
- n. (Zoöl.), Prov. Eng. The rudd.
- v. To make shallow.
- v. To become shallow, as water.
WordNet 3.0
- v. become shallow
- v. make shallow
- n. a stretch of shallow water
- adj. lacking depth of intellect or knowledge; concerned only with what is obvious
- adj. not deep or strong; not affecting one deeply
- adj. lacking physical depth; having little spatial extension downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or outward from a center
Etymologies
- From Middle English schalowe ("not deep, shallow"); apparently related to Old English sceald ("shallow"). See also shoal. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English schalowe. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Mr. Sullivan, the blogger, said an eHow page with what he characterized as "shallow" content previously appeared as the first Google search result when users searched "how to get pregnant fast.”
“Another group that you need to be cognizant of, and this occurs primarily in young teenagers and young male adults, is what we call shallow-water blackout, people going underwater and seeing how long can they hold their breath.”
“Firefighters performed what they call a shallow water rescue.”
“He was under what they call shallow cover as a press attach.”
“The definition of shallow is less meaningful, so in one sense of the term meaningful, Tyler Perry is less so in that context.”
“My boxer tries to catch the fish she sees in shallow water.”
“Well you're wrong, when the water is muddy don't fish in shallow water, always fish in deeper water up to 8-12 feet of water.”
“Peter Deeks, of Merritt Island, both of Native Sons Outfitters, when they spotted the big gator around 9 p.m. in shallow marshland between Lake Washington and Lake Winder.”
Young Mother Bags 11-Foot Alligator With a Crossbow in Florida's St.
“It had long been thought coral reefs only formed in shallow, warm waters.”
The Huffington Post: Gulf Corals In Oil Spill Zone Appear Healthy
“But there are also some other effects that are more worrying: the massive growth of oxygen holes, because of oxidation of organic matter in shallow water.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘shallow’.
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shapes
words for shape
( randomness, visual. descriptive )triangular, conical, round, broad, congruous, hexagonal, globular, curved, oval, rectangular, parallel, crumpled and 142 more...
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Linda(G4)
Accurate, address, afford, alert, analyze, ancestor, annual, apparent, arena, arrest, ascend, assist and 126 more...
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Impressionism
Words that describe the art of the impressionist era.
seascapes, landscapes, modern, impression, impressionist, contemporary, flicker, sensation, modernity, perceived, perceiving, momentary and 142 more...
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It's a Fish
kelpfish, fatfin, dollarfish, barrelfish, palometa, poppy-fish, ballan-wrasse, sweetlips, bichir, finpike, bergall, cunner and 192 more...
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Adjectives
sagacious, average, angry, mad, crazy, giant, ugly, pretty, happy, sad, lonely, solitary and 119 more...
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Siamese-Twin Words
Idea from Will Shortz's NPR puzzle feature. Two words that share a common letter (end of first word and start of second word) and forming a larger word, e.g., mill and lion = mil-l-ion. Variants ...
cordial, portable, trillion, retort, preposition, palace, domesticity, passage, shallow, electorate, bootstrap, turkey and 9 more...
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erinnbatykefer's Words
ewer, lace, grenadine, wick, haruspex, augur, distal, proximal, supine, labyrinthine, rivers, monongahela and 176 more...
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Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
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Words I have to learn
exasperate, felony, weld, fraud, worksheet, ransom, rehearse, preliminary, offshore, parole, infamous, sieve and 436 more...
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Apples to Apples: Green Cards
A complete list of the green cards (adjectives) from the popular word game.
absurd, addictive, adorable, aged, American, ancient, animated, annoying, appetizing, arrogant, awesome, awkward and 237 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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S
saffron, sapphire, sashay, satin, seashell, seductive, sepia, serene, shadow, shimmer, silhouette, skyline and 96 more...
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favorite words
ennui, bonhomie, eschew, liaison, serendipity, lovely, dusk, kitten, epitome, sexy, beloved, darling and 396 more...
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wordsmithing part deux
because wordsmith is not a verb.
enmity, incarnate, chignon, nape, solitude, nocturne, decorum, warren, svelte, interstice, serene, charlotte and 488 more...
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thegirlnextfloor's list
autumnal, avalanche, silhouette, antique, abysmal, scorch, sonic, surge, symmetry, whisper, penchant, dissipate and 349 more...
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Nullologue
nullologue, vaudeville, debauchery, debauched, libertine, nothing, dhadak, tz pf, nothingology, goodbyeology, sharmuta, manifesto and 874 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for shallow.
hernesheir It's a fish.
rudd Jan 3, 2012