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:
“I don’t know a single Black girl who hasn’t had a profound connection to ‘Black Girl’s Window,’ ” curator and Saar’s biographer, Zoé Whitley, told The Times in a recent interview.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
“It is with profound grief that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short,” the statement read.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
The Texas School for the Deaf, where Hottle had studied, also shared the news with "profound sadness".
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Queer nightlife offered one answer, imperfect but profound: Put the fear in a room.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
What Daddy lacked in formal education, he made up for with his profound knowledge of and appreciation for the natural world.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
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
There is something here which is in one sense profounder than moral reform.
From Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death by Myers, F. W. H. (Frederic William Henry)
He quotes Nietzsche saying, “The profoundest mind must also be the most frivolous one.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2022
Perhaps the stage of life that play can have its profoundest impact is towards the end.
From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2022
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
David Bowman would turn out to one of the most isolated people I’ve ever known—isolated on the profoundest levels by a certain traumatic displacement from ordinary human consolation.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 2, 2019
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.
