profound
Americanadjective
-
penetrating or entering deeply into subjects of thought or knowledge; having deep insight or understanding.
a profound thinker.
- Antonyms:
- superficial, shallow
-
originating in or penetrating to the depths of one's being: profound grief.
-
being or going far beneath what is superficial, external, or obvious.
profound insight.
-
of deep meaning; of great and broadly inclusive significance.
a profound book.
-
pervasive or intense; thorough; complete.
a profound silence.
-
extending, situated, or originating far down, or far beneath the surface.
the profound depths of the ocean.
-
bending or passing far downward; low.
a profound bow.
adjective
-
penetrating deeply into subjects or ideas
a profound mind
-
showing or requiring great knowledge or understanding
a profound treatise
-
situated at or extending to a great depth
-
reaching to or stemming from the depths of one's nature
profound regret
-
intense or absolute
profound silence
-
thoroughgoing; extensive
profound changes
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of profound
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin profundus “deep, vast,” equivalent to pro- pro- 1 + fundus “bottom” ( see found 1)
Explanation
When you need a word that's deeper than "deep," consider profound. A philosopher is likely to make many profound pronouncements. Profundus literally means "deep" in Latin, and profound had the same meaning when it entered English in the 14th century. But even then, it also meant "figuratively deep" — that is, very great or intense: "The new laws have had a profound impact." Of people, it means "very knowledgeable or insightful," but sometimes when a person tries to sound profound, they're really just giving you superficial knowledge dressed up with big words.
Vocabulary lists containing profound
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 1
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"The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
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List 4
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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:
If muonium responds to gravity differently from ordinary matter, the implications could be profound.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
They believe what they are creating each day holds the possibility of profound danger and disruption, including loss of life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
"She was a humanitarian whose contribution has made a profound difference across our country," Field said of Parton, who won an Emmy herself in 2021.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
It goes without saying that the ripple effects this will have on shipping and agriculture, and thus food prices, will be profound.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
That poet she met at Lucinda's party the night before argued that no matter how much of it one lost, in the midst of some profound emotion, one would revert to one's mother tongue.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
It insists that art is not propaganda, and Ukrainians need something else from their museums, something profounder, than a restatement of what they already know.
From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2022
It also results in the profounder album of the two.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 4, 2018
He deserves such tributes, but there is a profounder, truer explanation for the wonder he excites.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 17, 2010
Or, as Frank notes while dealing with a particularly difficult couple in Independence Day, “a profounder text runs beneath all realty decisions.”
From Newsweek
Didactic poetry obtained in Lucretius and Virgil ampler volume and profounder meaning than in their Greek models, Empedocles and Hesiod.
From The Roman Poets of the Republic by W. Y. Sellar
Photography’s profoundest limitation is its mechanistic nature, which can bind it to a literalness and a brittle understanding of time.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2021
The cameraphone is enacting the profoundest change to our experience of art in a century — and yet we still talk about photography with language as old as the Kodak Colorsnap.
From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2019
They represent the nation’s id, or, in the profoundest sense, its underclass, and Marxists and Freudians alike will have years of fun with this movie.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 22, 2019
And it is the new sense of the emergent individual that I think may be the profoundest change of all.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2013
I watched with the profoundest satisfaction as five days of grime ran down my legs and out the drainhole, and noticed with astonished gratitude that my body had taken on a noticeably svelter profile.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
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.
