shallow
Americanadjective
-
of little depth; not deep.
shallow water.
-
lacking depth; superficial.
a mind that is not narrow but shallow.
-
taking in a relatively small amount of air in each inhalation.
shallow breathing.
-
Baseball. relatively close to home plate.
The shortstop caught the pop fly in shallow left field.
noun
adverb
verb (used with or without object)
adjective
-
having little depth
-
lacking intellectual or mental depth or subtlety; superficial
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
shallowsimple
-
shallowssimple
-
have shallowedperfect
-
has shallowedperfect
-
am shallowingprogressive
-
are shallowingprogressive
-
is shallowingprogressive
-
have been shallowingperfect progressive
-
has been shallowingperfect progressive
Past
-
shallowedsimple
-
had shallowedperfect
-
was shallowingprogressive
-
were shallowingprogressive
-
had been shallowingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shallow
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English schalowe (adjective); akin to Old English sceald “shallow” ( see shoal 1)
Explanation
The adjective shallow can describe things that aren't very deep, like a shallow puddle, or people who don't have much emotional or intellectual depth, like shallow people who judge others on their looks and how much money they have. Shallow likely comes from the Old English word sceald, which means "shoal," the water near a shoreline. So, shallow describes something that is close to the surface — like the shallow roots of a newly-planted tree or a person whose interest in someone or something isn't very deep. For instance, a shallow person might go to the opening of a new art exhibition not so much to see the artworks as meet the wealthy people on the museum's board of trustees.
Vocabulary lists containing shallow
Face It: Selfie Vocab
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Words from Shakespearean Insults
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Workshop 2, Part 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Did watching my son perform at his piano recital cause my breaths to get shallow?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Phosphate became trapped in shallow sediments, leaving the open ocean relatively nutrient-poor.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
Salt production began in Ulcinj almost a century ago, when the natural lagoon was transformed into a network of shallow evaporating basins.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
The simple, shallow lesson is this was just bad campaign strategy.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
Two soldiers driving past on a routine patrol stopped short when their jeep’s headlights swept over five men in the shallow water near shore.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
"This suggests a fairly shallow eruption vent -- much shallower than what's implied by the existing bathymetry, which shows water depths of several hundred meters or more."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
Rescuers used excavators to dig a channel, allowing the whale to swim free - but attempts to guide it to the North Sea proved unsuccessful as it veered towards shallower waters.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026
For more nimble investors, commodity prices may find longer-term support and experience shallower pullbacks as supply disruptions encourage countries to stockpile strategic materials.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 17, 2026
The Russian side of the Arctic will melt fast because it is shallower, she said, prompting Moscow to increase its economic and military presence in the Northern Sea Route.
From Barron's ● Mar. 11, 2026
I scream a prayer inside me and plunge for a little lump of land groping itself into the shallower waters.
From "Beast Rider" by Tony Johnston & María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads
Currently, surveys are limited to very restricted spots, but with the help of these advanced underwater drones, scientists can extend their research from the shallowest regions to depths of 60 meters and beyond.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 15, 2024
The yield curve continued to 'bear steepen' to show its shallowest inversion between two and 10-year yields in more than a year and actually in positive territory between two and 20 years.
From Reuters ● Oct. 19, 2023
Still, I hope Sandro sticks around for many more weeks for the shallowest reason ever.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2022
It’s a shame that, despite a few charming moments that show some depth, the film only offers the shallowest of dips into the ocean that is modern queer culture.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2022
The moon was hidden somewhere behind the blinding glare, and it felt like the city itself was collapsing, pressing in, taking only the shallowest of breaths in the squeeze of lost space.
From "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds
On Thursday, the beachside felt calm as a woman was leisurely paddle boarding in the shallows while children played on the beach.
From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026
Evie first saw the pale axolotl nestled in the rocks after lifting up a discarded mat in the shallows of the River Ogmore.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026
When environmentalists countered with expensive government salmon hatcheries, the bass adapted, hiding in the shallows surrounding the hatcheries, where they are treated to an endless buffet of salmon fingerlings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
They frequent the shallows surrounding Friday Harbor Labs, the UW research facility located on San Juan Island.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2025
His uncle turned the boat and shipped the oars and they drifted over the sandy shallows until the transom grated in the sand.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
Once again, the sea shallowed, and fish shimmied between crags, sea urchins perched on ridges and starfish danced on the side of the island.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 6, 2017
Instead of descending directly into the mantle, the subducting plate shallowed out and moved eastward beneath the continental plate affecting the overlying continent hundreds of miles east of the continental margin and building high mountains.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017
That shows I've shallowed the path of my driver from the top to impact.
From Golf Digest ● Aug. 7, 2016
“Be a good boy,” my mother said with a shallowed voice before closing the door behind her, leaving us alone.
From Salon ● Mar. 5, 2013
The distance between the battleships and the boats did not seem to diminish, but only for the reason that we steamed very slowly in after them until the water gradually shallowed.
From New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 3, June, 1915 April-September, 1915 by Various
The researchers cite as one example the Bangkok basin in Thailand, where groundwater levels fell in the late-twentieth century before shallowing out in the early 21at Century.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2024
Instead, the fish have been forced to lay their eggs at the base of Shasta Lake in the shallowing Sacramento River.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2022
Other times, I get too steep with my swing. and I can't get the ball to do what I want, so I work on shallowing my angle of attack.
From Golf Digest ● Mar. 19, 2019
But the shallowing seawater in the Baltic Sea is not the only thing worrying people in the area, says Knutsson.
From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2017
Trying to collect his wits and courage, Vetch spoke the Revelation-spell, watching between each slow-syllabled word for change or tremor of illusion in this strange drying and shallowing of the abyss of ocean.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
