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)
-
shallows,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shallowed,
past participle, past
-
shallowing
present participle
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:
They brilliantly reveal Babitz’s eye for the deep shallow as well as explore the porous boundary between the largely self-inflicted injuries of her private life and the glittering sheen of her public persona.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
But judging by Barker’s shallow screenplay, I doubt that it will be too long before someone digs deeper, striking an unassailable, solid-gold classic.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
"People say it's shallow to want people to like you, but in the first humans it was literally a matter of life or death. If you weren't part of the tribe, you died."
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
This week, water levels at Kaub—the closely watched water gauge at the shallow stretch of the Rhine downstream from Naegler’s winery—fell below 50 centimeters, or almost 20 inches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
With that, the robot and the turtle parted ways and continued through that shallow sea in opposite directions.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
However, small growers often have shallower wells that are more vulnerable to going dry when water levels drop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Young sharks tend to remain in the refuge of shallower areas near the shore where larger predators are less common.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
The pace of construction on buildings with five or more units dropped roughly 42% in May from April, while single-family units decreased by a shallower 1.9%.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 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
As she marched through the cloudy water, the ocean became shallower and rougher.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
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
Though residential investment, which includes homebuilding, likely contracted for the ninth straight quarter, the decline was probably the shallowest in 1-1/2 years.
From Reuters ● Jul. 27, 2023
And the actors could find midnight-zone depths even when the siblings and their retainers were at their shallowest.
From New York Times ● May 28, 2023
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 shallowest waves lap against mere inches of shore.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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
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
The craft then cruise along the coastline to pick up people waiting in the shallows.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2025
His meager hair was plastered to his forehead and the back of his neck, with small pieces flopping this way and that as he floundered in the shallows.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
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 pool had been narrowed by half and shallowed to a depth of ten feet in the series of explosions Sears had detonated until the river gave up the rent carcass of the monstrous reptile.
From Terry A Tale of the Hill People by Thomson, Charles Goff
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.
