Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of profundity
1375–1425; late Middle English profundite < Late Latin profunditās. See profound, -ity
Explanation
Profundity describes being thoughtful, deep, and wise. Your profundity might inspire friends to come to you for advice. Profundity comes from the word profound and it means a quality of depth or wisdom that is meaningful or even transformational. The profundity of a piece of music might move you to tears, and the profundity of certain philosophies can be deep — and a bit confusing. Profundity can describe something that's intense, like the profundity of the silence in the room following the announcement of bad news.
Vocabulary lists containing profundity
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "P"
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Excerpt from "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
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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:
“Silent Friend” is a film not of environmentalist pleading but of ecological profundity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
Part of the beauty and profundity of people’s psychedelic experiences is the ineffable—but the systems that run on Western science are hungry for hard data, replicable and reliable outcomes, and, perhaps most importantly, profit.
From Slate ● Jan. 30, 2026
She thanked critics for celebrating "this genre of horror films, that are overlooked and not seen for the profundity that they can hold".
From BBC ● Feb. 8, 2025
Nevertheless, there’s a hushed profundity, especially in Binoche and Fiennes’ performances, expressing the kind of unspeakable grief and trauma one brings home from the battlefield, and what those who remain home suffer in absence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 6, 2024
He rocked back and forth on his heavy heels, his face wise with profundity.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
For those, to put it more generously, pulled in by the simple pleasures and crystalline profundities of the text.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
As I’ve written previously, Bankman-Fried exploited the vacuity of crypto by slathering it over with what sounded like profundities but was vacuous gibberish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2024
And there’s a high risk of sentimentality here: the precious Messiah child mewing his little Whitmanesque profundities at us about the unity of all life.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 21, 2021
“So I’m reluctant to utter my profundities unless I have some experience.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2020
Harriet always uses her polysyllables correctly, so I am not in the least offended at your comparison of my obscurities with her profundities.
From Campfire Girls at Twin Lakes The Quest of a Summer Vacation by Stella M. Francis
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.
