# shallow

Pronunciation: say "SHAL-oh" US /ˈʃæl.oʊ/, UK /ˈʃaləʊ/

## Adjective

1. Having little depth; significantly less deep from top to bottom than it is wide.
   - Simple: Not deep, with only a small distance from the top to the bottom.
   - _The stream is shallow enough to wade across in summer._
   - _She arranged the appetizers in a shallow ceramic dish._
2. Extending only a short distance downward, as roots or foundations that do not reach far below the surface.
   - Simple: Going only a short way down into the ground or another surface.
   - _Desert plants often survive on shallow roots that catch rain quickly._
   - _Builders poured shallow foundations because the bedrock sat close to the surface._
3. Concerned mainly with superficial matters such as appearance, status, or gossip rather than with deeper qualities or ideas.
   - Simple: Caring only about things like looks and money, not about deeper things.
   - _Critics dismissed the magazine as shallow, fixated on celebrity gossip and little else._
   - _She worried that swiping through profiles encouraged shallow judgments about people._
4. Not intellectually deep; failing to go beyond the surface of a subject; simple, unwise, or unknowing.
   - Simple: Not showing deep or careful thought about a subject.
   - _The editorial offered a shallow analysis that ignored the deeper economic causes._
   - _His grasp of the theory stayed shallow despite years of casual reading._
5. Lacking interest or substance; flat and one-dimensional, as a character or portrayal without complexity.
   - Simple: Flat and not interesting, without real life or detail.
   - _Critics found the sequel's plot shallow compared with the original's layered storytelling._
   - _The biography offers only a shallow portrait of a famously complicated woman._
7. Rising or falling only gradually; forming a small angle with the horizontal; not steep.
   - Simple: Going up or down only a little, not steep.
   - _The road climbs at a shallow grade through the foothills._
   - _Skipping stones works best when they strike the water at a shallow angle._
9. In tennis, landing or positioned not far into the court; close to the net rather than near the baseline.
   - Simple: In tennis, landing close to the net instead of deep in the court.
   - _A shallow second serve invites an aggressive return._
   - _Her lob came down shallow, and he smashed it away._

## Noun

6. An area of reduced depth in an otherwise deep body of water.
   - Simple: A place in a river, lake, or sea where the water is not deep.
   - _The ferry slowed to avoid a shallow that shifted with every storm._
   - _Herons stalked the shallows at the edge of the bay._
10. The rudd, a European freshwater fish of the carp family with reddish fins.
   - Simple: A freshwater fish with red fins, also called the rudd.
   - _Anglers sometimes take a shallow on bread bait near the reed beds._
   - _A shallow rose to sip insects from the surface at dusk._
11. A costermonger's barrow; the handcart from which street vendors sold fruit, vegetables, or fish.
   - Simple: A small cart that street sellers once pushed to sell fruit and vegetables.
   - _He loaded his shallow with oranges before dawn and wheeled it toward the market._
   - _Rain or shine, her shallow stood at the same corner for thirty years._

## Verb

8. To make less deep, or to become less deep, as a body of water does when sediment accumulates.
   - Simple: To become less deep, or to make something less deep.
   - _Crews shallowed the lagoon to create habitat for wading birds._
   - _Without regular dredging, busy harbors gradually shallow as silt settles._

## Adjective

12. Not deep in tone; high or thin in pitch, as a voice or note. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: High or thin in sound, not low or deep.
   - _Her shallow voice rose easily above the deeper parts in the choir._
   - _The fiddle's top string gave out a shallow, piercing note._

## Origin

From Middle English schalowe ("not deep, shallow"), apparently related to Middle English schalde and Old English sċeald ("shallow"), from Proto-Germanic *skal- and ultimately Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- ("to parch, dry out"). It is related to Low German Scholl ("shallow water") and to shoal.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/shallow (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).