shallow Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a stretch of shallow water
    shoal.
  2. verb make shallow
    shoal.
    • The silt shallowed the canal
  3. verb become shallow
    shoal.
    • the lake shallowed over time
  4. adjective lacking physical depth; having little spatial extension downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or outward from a center
    • shallow water
    • a shallow dish
    • a shallow cut
    • a shallow closet
    • established a shallow beachhead
    • hit the ball to shallow left field
  5. adjective not deep or strong; not affecting one deeply
    • shallow breathing
    • a night of shallow fretful sleep
    • in a shallow trance
  6. adjective satellite lacking depth of intellect or knowledge; concerned only with what is obvious
    • shallow people
    • his arguments seemed shallow and tedious

WordNet

Shal"low adjective
Etymology
OE. schalowe, probably originally, sloping or shelving; cf. Icel. skjalgr wry, squinting, AS. sceolh, D. & G. scheel, OHG. schelah. Cf. Shelve to slope, Shoal shallow.
Wordforms
comparative Shallower ; superlative Shallowest
Definitions
  1. Not deep; having little depth; shoal. "Shallow brooks, and rivers wide." Milton.
  2. Not deep in tone. R.
    The sound perfecter and not so shallow and jarring. Bacon.
  3. Not intellectually deep; not profound; not penetrating deeply; simple; not wise or knowing; ignorant; superficial; as, a shallow mind; shallow learning.
    The king was neither so shallow, nor so ill advertised, as not to perceive the intention of the French king. Bacon.
    Deep versed in books, and shallow in himself. Milton.
Shal"low noun
Definitions
  1. A place in a body of water where the water is not deep; a shoal; a flat; a shelf.
    A swift stream is not heard in the channel, but upon shallows of gravel. Bacon.
    Dashed on the shallows of the moving sand. Dryden.
  2. (Zoöl.) The rudd. Prov. Eng.
Shal"low transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To make shallow. Sir T. Browne.
Shal"low intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To become shallow, as water.

Webster 1913