Shallow Meaning
/ˈʃæləʊ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjHaving little depth; lacking depth of intellect or knowledge.
adjHaving little depth; significantly less deep than wide.
Sentence Examples
I don't like his shallow personality.
The pond is too shallow for swimming.
The curriculum of this school is wide and shallow.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The children could stand in the ____ end of the pool since it was only three feet deep.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ end of the pool is safe for children.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English schalowe (“not deep, shallow”); apparently related to Middle English schalde, schold, scheld, schealde (“shallow”), from Old English sċeald (“shallow”), from Proto-Germanic *skal-, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to parch, dry out”). Related to Low German Scholl (“shallow water”). See also shoal.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The corpus is massive, being deeper anteriorly and shallowest where the ramus takes origin. The corpi of both sides are more closely spaced to each other than in the living form, and the symphysis is narrower."
— 1977, Vincent J. Maglio, Dental and Skeletal Morphology of the Earliest Elephants, page 33:
"The two shallower fibriscesses may represent lysis due to the spread of the infection that entered the phalanx at its presumed puncture wound, the deep fibriscess on the palmar surface."
— 2016 February 25, “Record-Breaking Pain: The Largest Number and Variety of Forelimb Bone Maladies in a Theropod Dinosaur”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:
"The king was neither so shallow, nor so ill advertised, as not to perceive the intention of the French king."
— 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:
"the sound perfecter and not so shallow and jarring"
— 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
"Rosol spurned the chance to finish off a shallow second serve by spooning into the net, and a wild forehand took the set to 5-4, with the native of Prerov required to hold his serve for victory."
— 2012 June 28, Jamie Jackson, “Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal”, in The Guardian:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The children could stand in the ____ end of the pool since it was only three feet deep.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ end of the pool is safe for children.