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
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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:
The results pointed to a remarkably persistent landscape containing woodlands, open grasslands, marshes, flowing rivers, and shallow bodies of water.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 29, 2026
The weather service has seen reports of “seawater over low-lying areas,” Black said, and “some structures have had shallow water up to the base of the building.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
He said both boys had been so excited and had been snorkelling in shallow water as they sorted out their towels and bags on the beach when the boys got into difficulties.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
Note the softly creased light lines and shallow drafts along the door panels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026
The water was shallow enough that Roz could watch the sun moving across the sky.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
Along the way, it experienced unusually high temperatures at shallower depths before entering conditions associated with a relatively cooler type of subduction.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026
The shallower the earthquake, the more likely it is to have more severe effects on the surface.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
It’s creating shallower and more fragile relationships and communities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
This supports a developing idea that early animals may have first appeared in offshore, deep marine environments before gradually spreading into shallower coastal waters.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
But it wasn’t the water that was receding, the stream was getting shallower.
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
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
This water sits in some of the state's shallowest and most remote aquifers, where it has accreted over thousands of years beneath chalk-white valleys.
From Salon ● May 7, 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
A few children splashed in the shallows as the surfers paddled out to sea, fighting the crashing waves.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 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
Mothers, toddlers and lovers waded through the shallows like shore birds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
While Fflewddur held the bridles with his uninjured hand, the companions waded into the shallows.
From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander
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
Where he stood the water was about three feet deep, and his feet rested on soft sand, while, as he continually groped along sidewise, he found the water shallowed.
From The Haute Noblesse A Novel by George Manville Fenn
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
She could feel the dream shallowing, like a sleek ship beaching on a shoal.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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