Library / English Dictionary

SHALLOW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A stretch of shallow water

Synonyms:

shallow; shoal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("shallow" is a kind of...):

body of water; water (the part of the earth's surface covered with water (such as a river or lake or ocean))

Derivation:

shallow (become shallow)

shallow (make shallow)

shallow (lacking physical depth; having little spatial extension downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or outward from a center)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lacking physical depth; having little spatial extension downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or outward from a center

Example:

hit the ball to shallow left field

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

ankle-deep; knee-deep (coming only to the ankle or knee)

fordable (shallow enough to be crossed by walking or riding on an animal or in a vehicle)

neritic (relating to the region of shallow water adjoining the seacoast)

superficial (occurring on or near the surface of the skin)

reefy; shelfy; shelvy; shoaly (full of submerged reefs or sandbanks or shoals)

Attribute:

deepness; depth (the extent downward or backward or inward)

Antonym:

deep (having great spatial extension or penetration downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or laterally or outward from a center; sometimes used in combination)

Derivation:

shallow (a stretch of shallow water)

shallowness (the quality of lacking physical depth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Not deep or strong; not affecting one deeply

Example:

in a shallow trance

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

light; wakeful ((of sleep) easily disturbed)

Attribute:

deepness; depth (the extent downward or backward or inward)

Antonym:

deep (relatively deep or strong; affecting one deeply)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Lacking depth of intellect or knowledge; concerned only with what is obvious

Example:

his arguments seemed shallow and tedious

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

superficial (concerned with or comprehending only what is apparent or obvious; not deep or penetrating emotionally or intellectually)

Derivation:

shallowness (lack of depth of knowledge or thought or feeling)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become shallow

Example:

the lake shallowed over time

Synonyms:

shallow; shoal

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "shallow" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

shallow (a stretch of shallow water)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make shallow

Example:

The silt shallowed the canal

Synonyms:

shallow; shoal

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "shallow" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

shallow (a stretch of shallow water)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Researchers found that craters become up to 10% shallower near the north pole of Mercury and the south pole of the Moon, but not the north pole of the Moon.

(The Moon and Mercury May Have Thick Ice Deposits, NASA)

Marine organisms in the Southern Ocean may find themselves between a rock and a hard place by the end of the century as ocean acidification creates a shallower zone for life.

(Marine organisms in Southern Ocean will face shallower zone for life, National Science Foundation)

Such a strain of shallow artifice could not impose even upon Catherine.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Evidence shows that depleted levels are forcing them to move towards the surface and to shallow areas of sea, where they are more vulnerable to fishing.

(Oceans running out of oxygen at unprecedented rate, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

He was rather a shallow sort of young gentleman, I thought, with a handsome face, a rapid utterance, and a confident, bold air.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

On the third day it became evident that our journey in the canoes could not last much longer, for the stream was rapidly growing more shallow.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A non-threaded shallow draw metal closure that normally has 21 corrugations on the outer edge, which function to engage the container when applied.

(Crown Metal Container Closure, Food and Drug Administration)

On either bow roared the shallow bar.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

While deep, narrow major groove is not easily accessible to proteins but wide, shallow minor groove is accessible to proteins but with lower information content than major groove.

(A-DNA, NCI Thesaurus)

But the map reveals particularly shallow deposits that future mission planners may want to study further.

(NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars, NASA)