English Explanatory Dictionary

shallow

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Having little depth; significantly less deep than wide.
  2. Extending not far downward.
  3. Concerned mainly with superficial matters.
  4. Lacking interest or substance; flat; one-dimensional.
  5. Not intellectually deep; not penetrating deeply; simple; not wise or knowing.
  6. Not deep in tone.
  7. Not far forward, close to the net.
  8. Not steep; close to horizontal.
noun
  1. A shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water.
  2. A fish, the rudd.
  3. A costermonger's barrow.
verb
  1. To make or become less deep.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈʃæləʊ/ /ˈʃæloʊ/ en-us-shallow.ogg /ˈʃalo/ /ˈʃalou/

Word forms

shallow shallower more shallow shallowest most shallow shallows shallowing shallowed

Etymology

From Middle English schalowe (“not deep, shallow”); apparently related to Middle English schalde, schold, scheld, schealde (“shallow”), from Old English sċeald (“shallow”), from Proto-Germanic *skal-, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to parch, dry out”). Related to Low German Scholl (“shallow water”). See also shoal.

Synonyms

shallow superficial skin-deep

Antonyms

deep

Related words

sandbank sandbar shoal

Derived words

broad and shallow given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow nonshallow Shallowater Shallow Bay shallow brooks are noisy shallow copy shallow-copy shallow cove shallow embedding shallow end shallow fellow shallow-fried shallow-fry shallow-hearted shallowhearted shallowish shallowly shallowness shallowpate shallow-waisted Shallow Water shallow-witted unshallow
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on S Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary