shallow

adjective shal·low \ ˈsha-(ˌ)lō \

Updated on: 22 Apr 2018

Definition of shallow

1 : having little depth

shallow water

2 : having little extension inward or backward

office buildings have taken the form of shallow slabs
—Lewis Mumford

3 a : penetrating only the easily or quickly perceived

shallow generalizations

b : lacking in depth of knowledge, thought, or feeling

a shallow demagogue

4 : displacing comparatively little air : weak

shallow breathing

—

shallowly

play \ˈsha-lō-lē, -lə-lē\ adverb

—

shallowness

noun

See shallow defined for English-language learners

See shallow defined for kids

Examples of shallow in a Sentence

The shallow end of the pool is only three feet deep.
Her boyfriends were all shallow creeps.
She could only take shallow breaths.
His breathing became very shallow.

Recent Examples of shallow from the Web

Months after Kedys died, another man he had accused died falling off an all-terrain vehicle into a shallow pool of water.

— Washington Post, "APNewsBreak: Lithuanian claims pedophile ring in extradition," 18 Apr. 2018
Prosecutors allege Woodward stabbed Bernstein in early January and buried him in a shallow grave at Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch.

— hannah fry, latimes.com, "State Senate committee rejects sentencing bill inspired by Blaze Bernstein’s slaying," 12 Apr. 2018
Her remains were found in a shallow grave behind his parents’ home.

— BostonGlobe.com, "Police blotter," 9 Apr. 2018
As far as chic hotel hangouts go, the Palmer project rings somewhat familiar — cabanas, shallow ledge pool, modern furniture, stone fire pits, etc.

— justin phillips, San Francisco Chronicle, "Check out the sweeping views from Napa’s only rooftop bar," 6 Apr. 2018
Steele's facing a somewhat shallow pool of talent in his frontcourt and at the perimeter positions with the departures of senior bigs Sean O'Mara and Kerem Kanter and shooting guards J.P. Macura and Trevon Bluiett.

— patrick brennan, Cincinnati.com, "Xavier basketball grad transfer tracker: Travis Steele's plan for filling out the 2018-19 roster," 5 Apr. 2018
A few weeks after that day in El Salvador in January 2017, the police concluded that a body found in a shallow grave had, in fact, been dumped there on January 11th.

— The Economist, "Shining light on Latin America’s homicide epidemic," 5 Apr. 2018
Now 38, has been jailed since 1999 in the murder of his high school sweetheart Hae Min Lee, who was found buried in a shallow grave in a Baltimore park that year.

— erin donaghue, CBS News, ""Serial" case: What's next for Adnan Syed?," 30 Mar. 2018
Adnan Syed was convicted in 2000 of killing Hae Min Lee and burying her body in a shallow grave in a Baltimore park.

— lawrence specker, AL.com, "A different bonus: Yellawood company putting Trump tax break into benefits," 29 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'shallow.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of shallow

Middle English schalowe; probably akin to Old English sceald shallow — more at skeleton

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

See Words from the same year

shallow Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of shallow

superficial, shallow, cursory mean lacking in depth or solidity. superficial implies a concern only with surface aspects or obvious features.

- a superficial analysis of the problem

shallow is more generally derogatory in implying lack of depth in knowledge, reasoning, emotions, or character.

- a light, shallow, and frivolous review

cursory suggests a lack of thoroughness or a neglect of details.

- gave the letter only a cursory reading

shallow

verb

Definition of shallow

transitive verb

: to make shallow

intransitive verb

: to become shallow

Recent Examples of shallow from the Web

Toronto halved the deficit in the third when Hernandez hit a leadoff double and scored on Richard Urena's bloop double to shallow left.

— USA TODAY, "Kevin Gausman pitches 7 innings, Orioles top Blue Jays 2-1 to snap skid," 13 Sep. 2017
But Verlander got Gary Sanchez to fly out to shallow right and Greg Bird to ground out to second.

— kirkland crawford, Detroit Free Press, "Former Tigers ace Justin Verlander dominates Yankees in ALCS Game 2," 14 Oct. 2017
Given the 6-0 lead, he was removed after the Cardinals loaded the bases in the third with one down on Carson Kelly’s infield hit, Greg Garcia’s bloop single to shallow left and a walk to Tommy Pham.

— tom haudricourt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Cardinals 7, Brewers 6: Six-run lead disappears as Brewers finally get eliminated," 30 Sep. 2017
After a strikeout of Sean Rodriguez, Starling Marte hit a blooper to shallow center.

— c. trent rosecrans, Cincinnati.com, "Reds Recap: Mahle has a good start, but bullpen gets tagged," 2 Sep. 2017
After slumping Aaron Judge worked a five-pitch walk, Didi Gregarious followed with a popup to shallow left centerfield, where shortstop Jean Segura, who was battling the sun, called for the ball.

— jay jaffe, SI.com, "The Mariners Had an Horrible, No Good, Very Bad First Inning," 27 Aug. 2017
But Walker flied out to shallow left, Braun popped out to short and Shaw grounded out to third, stranding Thames and leaving the score tied, 1-1.

— tom haudricourt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Brewers 4, Giants 3: Two runs in seventh prove the difference in see-saw contest," 23 Aug. 2017
On the leveed west side, marshlands are rapidly converting to shallow open water.

— tristan baurick, NOLA.com, "West Bank coastal restoration project, one of state's biggest, topic of 6 meetings," 11 July 2017
Outlook: 125 Marina reports: Walleyes good trolling 23 feet down with stickbaits or nightcrawlers; smallmouth bass good on shallowing-running baits near tree lines; catfish good on cut bait and live bait using limb lines and trotlines.

— bruce janssen, kansascity, "Fishing report for June 22," 28 June 2017

First Known Use of shallow

1510

shallow

noun

Definition of shallow

: a shallow place or area in a body of water —usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction

Examples of shallow in a Sentence

we waded through the shallows looking for tadpoles

Recent Examples of shallow from the Web

Based on these similarities, dePolo and Brusatte say that sauropods in Skye—and perhaps elsewhere—regularly waded in coastal shallows.

— steve brusatte, National Geographic, "Huge Dinosaur Footprints Discovered on Scottish Coast," 2 Apr. 2018
There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.

— james stavridis, Time, "Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Convinced Me He’s a Force to Be Reckoned With," 22 Mar. 2018
Toxic algal blooms have plagued the shallow, warmer end of the lake for more than a decade, fed by agricultural runoff from farms in the Maumee River watershed near Toledo.

— james f. mccarty, cleveland.com, "Lake Erie's Western Basin "impaired," ending years of resistence by Kasich administration," 22 Mar. 2018
Two great blue herons fished in the shallows, and a pair of Eastern phoebes foraged along the low vegetation.

— taylor piephoff, charlotteobserver, "First swallow of the year and many other birds spotted at McAlpine Creek Park | Charlotte Observer," 16 Mar. 2018
With the very early warm-up this year, some male bass are already prowling the shallows looking over the spawning locations across much of Alabama.

— frank sargeant, AL.com, "Early spring likely to bring early bass spawn in area lakes," 25 Feb. 2018
On those days, speckled trout and redfish will move out of deeper water and onto the flats, following the mullet and other forage fish drawn to the warming shallows.

— shannon tompkins, Houston Chronicle, "Coastal fishing in February can be rewarding," 3 Feb. 2018
Meant to depict the shallows of the Solomon Islands, dolphins, manta rays, and other animals swim towards the human interlopers.

— arthur levine, USA TODAY, "Go on an Ocean Odyssey in Times Square with National Geographic," 31 Jan. 2018
Some areas of the bay were iced over in the shallows.

— bink grimes, Houston Chronicle, "Outdoors report: Jan. 18," 17 Jan. 2018

First Known Use of shallow

1569

shallow Synonyms

Synonyms

ford, shoal;

Near Antonyms

trench;

abyss, deep, depth, gulf;

Related Words

bank, bar, sandbank, sandbar, towhead;

Other Geology Terms

anthracite, boulder, cwm, erratic, igneous, intrusive, mesa, sedimentary, silt, swale

SHALLOW Defined for English Language Learners

shallow

adjective

Definition of shallow for English Language Learners

: having a small distance to the bottom from the surface or highest point
: not going far inward from the outside or the front edge of something
: not caring about or involving serious or important things

SHALLOW Defined for Kids

shallow

adjective shal·low \ ˈsha-lō \

Definition of shallow for Students

shallower; shallowest

1 : not deep

a shallow stream

2 : taking in small amounts of air

shallow breaths

3 : showing little knowledge, thought, or feeling

They're shallow people only interested in money.

—

shallowness

noun

shallow

noun

Definition of shallow for Students

: a shallow place in a body of water —usually used in pl.

Medical Dictionary

shallow

adjective shal·low \ ˈshal-(ˌ)ō, -ə(-w) \

medical Definition of shallow

: displacing comparatively little air

shallow breathing

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shallow

Definition of shallow

shallowly

shallowness

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Origin and Etymology of shallow

shallow Synonyms

Synonyms

Antonyms

Near Antonyms

Related Words

Synonym Discussion of shallow

shallow

Definition of shallow

Recent Examples of shallow from the Web

First Known Use of shallow

shallow

Definition of shallow

Examples of shallow in a Sentence

Recent Examples of shallow from the Web

First Known Use of shallow

shallow Synonyms

Synonyms

Near Antonyms

Related Words

Other Geology Terms

SHALLOW Defined for English Language Learners

shallow

Definition of shallow for English Language Learners

SHALLOW Defined for Kids

shallow

Definition of shallow for Students

shallowness

shallow

Definition of shallow for Students

Medical Dictionary

shallow

medical Definition of shallow

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