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:
Noting both the profound sadness and farcical tragedy ahead “if those who are gifted stay silent,” Lillian Smith in 1951 hoped for a better future.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
“It is with profound grief that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short,” the statement read.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
By comparison, “Sheep in the Box” feels thin and strangely scattershot in its approach to a drama that ought to have profound implications.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
“It is with profound sadness that we share the heartbreaking news that one of our TSD seniors, Kaylee Hottle, tragically passed away yesterday in a car accident in Frederick, Maryland,” read the Instagram post.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Anya listened with a profound ache of understanding in her heart.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
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
But Jarecki seems to want more, something deeper and profounder.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 19, 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
Within, beyond, the world of ether,—as a still profounder, still more generalised aspect of the Cosmos,—must lie, as I believe, the world of spiritual life.
From Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death by Myers, F. W. H. (Frederic William Henry)
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
Matilda Joslyn Gage, in her treatise Woman, Church and State, hailed this local herb-woman as “the profoundest thinker, the most advanced scientist” of her age.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 7, 2018
Ruth Rendell’s favorite Austen is also “Mansfield Park,” which she calls “the fun-less one, the profoundest, the most didactic, but nevertheless the greatest.”
From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2015
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
It was an odd manuscript; in the midst of the profoundest personal tragedy, sinking into economic ruin, he wrote brilliantly funny columns.
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
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.
