skin-deep

[skin-deep]

adjective

1. superficial or slight; not profound or substantial.

   Their sincerity is only skin-deep.

adverb

1. slightly; superficially.

   He went into the subject only skin-deep.

skin-deep

adjective

1. superficial; shallow

adverb

1. superficially

Word History and Origins

Origin of skin deep¹

First recorded in 1605–15

Idioms and Phrases

see beauty is only skin deep.

Example Sentences

Dawn is as skin-deep as it gets, a character with no discernible motives and a frustrating absence of realism in a film that’s desperately aiming for authenticity.

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Because of this, Trump has been able to disrupt and expose that they are merely skin-deep.

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More central than the gross-out factor is a wry statement of disability pride, a reminder that swagger needn’t be skin-deep.

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The story may be only skin-deep, but Banks and Pullman find something truthfully hopeless in these surface pleasures.”

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But the most spirited discussions at Cannes are over whether the movie is trenchant or skin-deep.

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