shallowshal‧low /ˈʃæləʊ $ -loʊ/ ●●● S3 adjective (comparative shallower, superlative shallowest) 
a shallow river The lake is quite shallow. the shallow end of the pool Place the meat in a shallow dish.2not interested in or not showing any understanding of important or serious matters – used to show disapproval: a shallow argument If he’s only interested in your looks, that shows how shallow he is.3shallow breathing breathing that takes in only small amounts of air OPP deep—shallowly adverb: He lay there unconscious, breathing shallowly.—shallowness noun [uncountable]
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- a shallow drawer
- Don't dive in. The water's too shallow here.
- The babies splashed around at the shallow end of the pool.
- The river is too shallow for our boat.
- After recovering from an attack of shallow breathing he recovered and one nurse said he was smiling and cooing in his cot.
- As adults our abdomens get tightened up from stress, and we get used to taking very short, shallow breaths.
- Behind the carpet was a shallow recess in which the bedding was normally stored.
- His breathing would become rapid and shallow, his cheeks flushed.
- She told them then about the shallow hip sockets and the tightening tendons and the surgery.
- They are often oval, especially when they are floating on or near the water-surface, especially in shallow tanks.
- When I was ready, I started walking into the shallow water away from Blefuscu.
- You can practically see his heart beating through his shallow rib-cage.
Longman Language Activatornot deep
not very deep - use this especially about the water in a river, lake, swimming pool etc: · The babies splashed around at the shallow end of the pool.· The river is too shallow for our boat.
if a river, lake, hole, etc is not very deep , the distance from the surface to the bottom is not very large: · Come on in - the water isn't very deep.· The wound isn't very deep so it shouldn't take long to heal.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY the shallow end of the pool He lay there unconscious, breathing shallowly.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
the shallow end of the pool He lay there unconscious, breathing shallowly. (=in which you breathe a small amount of air in)· Shallow breaths are often a sign of nervousness.
(=not deep)· Fill a shallow container with soil.
· The car had become stuck in a deep ditch.
(=going down slowly rather than suddenly)· The bird captures its prey on the ground after a long, shallow dive.
(=used about the ends of a swimming pool where the water is deepest or least deep)· The kids were splashing about in the shallow end.
(=a hole that is not very deep in the ground)· They found the woman’s remains in a shallow grave in the woods.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· It was fresh and fast running but so shallow that it just trickled over her fingers.· The water is so shallow that their writhing humped backs break clear of the surface.· Its tiny stage was so shallow that several dancers fell off in a test performance.· I can not believe I was so shallow back then.· But it was the remorse of youth - intense, yet so shallow its depth is plumbed at a glance.· She had been so easily pleased then, so shallow, so intolerant.
· The Chattahoochee was too shallow to keep barges afloat in the navigable waterway south of Atlanta.· The average depth now is 35 feet, which is too shallow to handle the largest container ships.· I've also found the size pockets on the Colorados too shallow for safety.
· Unless the sea is very shallow the plants must float.· Hug the left bank to the rack outfall then the right bank to second the outflow to avoid very shallow water.· At the one end it is very shallow and at the other end it is deep.· Heilen is very shallow and weedy.· The lagoon's frozen - it's very shallow.· These blinds are not suitable for very shallow windows as there would be insufficient depth of fabric to form into pleats.
NOUN· Within that band the kite will move from steep to shallow angles against the oncoming wind.· The shallower angle meant that the aspect ratio of chord to span was higher.· The aircraft would have crossed this jet stream at a shallow angle which would have resulted in considerably reduced ground speed.· This maintains a shallow angle of subduction beneath the outer arc but steepens below the main volcanic arc to about 60°.
· Serve the noodles in a shallow bowl with a warmed slice of Roulé on each bowl of pasta.· An easel deep enough to display a book may work for a shallow bowl or platter.· Strain the fruit, reserving the juice then soak all the break in the fruit juice in a shallow bowl.· Florist's foam will help to turn a shallow bowl into a lovely container.
· This rapid shallow breath may occur in response to the adrenalin which causes the heart to speed up.· We matched their shallow breaths and felt entirely home.· She drew in a number of shallow breaths.· As adults our abdomens get tightened up from stress, and we get used to taking very short, shallow breaths.· She drew in a shallow breath, her small lips parting.
· The largest object for miles, dominating the shallow depression which is the valley of the Ancre, is the Thiepval Memorial.· Rusty sediments pond in shallow depressions between the weathered gray curves of basalt pillows.· The female makes the final choice and lays her eggs in the shallow depression.· And on the other side, to the north, there was that shallow depression, the empty lot.· A single downpour can rapidly transform a lifeless, shallow depression in the desert into a pool throbbing with life.
· In Britain, in particular, there can be few areas where water is not available at a shallow depth.· Camera-shake and shallow depth of field can cause problems.· Heating probably begins at quite shallow depths but because the downgoing plate is cold virtually all of this heat is initially absorbed.· Nuclear waste is disposed of at much shallower depths.· You must wait at that depth, within 0.5 metres, until a shallower depth or a new no-stop time is indicated.· Programmable shallow depth alarm and adjustable keel depth.
· Cream overflowed the edges of the shallow dish, another little twist of frightening confusion.· Arrange meat in a shallow dish.· Put these in a shallow dish and look for small animals on the stems and on the underside of leaves.· Now, with no directing signals to orientate it, the shallow dish had automatically set itself in the neutral position.· Place the chicken in a shallow dish, coat with the marinade and leave for at least 2 hours.· Combine eggs, milk and salt in a shallow dish and beat well.· Place in a shallow dish and squeeze over lemon juice, then drizzle over oil.· At the same time as you fill the aquarium, put some tap-water into a clean shallow dish to stand overnight.
· Robert dived into the shallow end of the pool at Nettlebed and sustained a broken neck and back injuries.· The sun beating down on them and the children splashing and laughing in the shallow end.· She made the shallow end and stood up, plastering her hair back with her hands.· At the shallow end, with their hair in caps, the girls from Typing did the jitterbug in twos.· A woman stood at the shallow end, her hand under the chin of a small child, encouraging it along.· The pool should be placed on a generous layer of sand and the shallow end supported on bricks.
· At first they saw only the little hand - the fist, decomposed but stretching out of the shallow grave.· Later, a badly decomposed body was found in a shallow grave five miles from the Lindbergh estate.· He died in May and the Seales buried him in a shallow grave in a park.· They looked like pets in a shallow grave.· Meg's coffin was lowered into a shallow grave packed in the dry, hard ground.· Her body was found buried in a shallow grave in a grove two days after she was last seen with Thompson.· Perhaps in a shallow grave of leaves and twigs.· Hours before the rebels arrived his body was hurriedly wrapped in a blanket and secreted in a shallow grave.
· The calcium sulphate was probably concentrated by evaporation of shallow lakes, though wind-borne gypsum dust may have contributed in places.· Ducks and geese are stripping the shoreline of vegetation, triggering erosion that muddies the shallow lake.· Many years ago, one of the hunters had drowned in a shallow lake further out across the plateau.· When the ice melted some shallow lakes remained where boulder clay blocked old river courses.· Toxic algae has previously been confined to lowland shallow lakes surrounded either by an increasing population or intensively farmed land.· Among the birds, flamingos have also evolved strainers inside their mouths and operate as filter-feeders in shallow lakes.· Coastal plains often feature long, shallow lakes, separated and aligned by raised beaches and occupying up to 90% of the terrain.· The tumbling waters fan out into a small and shallow lake of coated stagnant water.
· Repeated insertion of a fork to its full length is all that is needed to break up shallow pans.· Fill a shallow pan with about half an inch of water.· Heat the oil in a wide shallow pan, put in the sliced onion, carrot, chopped celery and parsley stalks.· Put the turkey in its wrappings in a shallow pan to catch any juices in the refrigerator.· To prepare: Put the flour in a shallow pan and mix with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste.· Pour the milk in another shallow pan and have a third pan at hand to put the pieces on.· A shallow pan maximizes a foods' exposure to the heating element, which promotes even browning.
· Mating takes place at night in shallow pools in dunes and other sandy areas.· Picture a shallow pool with a glassy surface, and in the pool picture minnows fluttering their tail fins but otherwise stationary.· She picked up the stick and hurled it, skimming it low over the shallow pools left by the tide.· The stomach is mostly empty-the whisky is lying in a shallow pool where it is now mixed with highly acidic gastric juices.· It is also further evidence of the extraordinarily shallow pool from which the Great and Good are drawn.· Shortly thereafter we enter a stretch of shallow pools and channels cut into the rock by a millennium of erosion.
· Both groups seem to have flourished in exceptionally warm, shallow seas in the tropics of the Tethyan region.· A shallow sea began to emerge.· It is also well-suited for navigation in shallow seas.
· But it was a cold, dank place beside a stream in a shallow valley.· It lies in a shallow valley a couple of clicks north of Redondo.· Fording the Kale Water, they turned up its far bank into the quickly narrow shallow valley.· It ran straight up a wide shallow valley, with tilled fields on both sides, to a huddle of buildings.· The shallow valley was creased by a small stream that reflected the sky's dimming light.· Sharpe urged his horse down the rutted lane that dropped into a shallow valley before climbing between two unhedged pastures.· Wycliffe set out along the road which was no more than a lane following the course of a shallow valley.
· Naked children splashed gleefully in the shallow water, trying to catch the occasional sand crab before it scuttled underground.· We boil the nests, slowly in shallow water, and drink the extract.· The shallow water was thick with paddling children.· This basin, called the Chicxulub crater, formed on the continental shelf in shallow water.· They were splashing through shallow water, between massive, brooding willow trunks.· It grows in shallow water in pools and ponds, most frequently on substrates ranging from sand to fine silt.· When I was ready, I started walking into the shallow water away from Blefuscu.· Hug the left bank to the rack outfall then the right bank to second the outflow to avoid very shallow water.
· Gordon finally roused himself and tried to steer the conversation toward shallower waters.· A spill would be especially damaging since equipment normally used for containment could not operate in such shallow waters.· The young are found in shallow waters around coral heads, but the adults move out into deeper water.· Echoes of the signal alert them to possible prey, at ranges up to 80-90 metres in shallow waters.· They are generally found on the banks of shallow waters.· Anyone who has paddled in the shallow waters of the Arahura river will understand how such a concept arose.· There was to be no paddling around in the shallow waters for this man, Ruth thought.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY
1measuring only a short distance from the top to the bottom OPP deep: - After recovering from an attack of shallow breathing he recovered and one nurse said he was smiling and cooing in his cot.
- Holding your breath builds up tension and shallow breathing denies your body the oxygen it needs to function at maximum efficiency.
- If there is severe difficulty in breathing - shortness of breath, wheezing, laboured, rapid or shallow breathing.
- Jezrael's heart beat faster but she forced herself to slow the shallow breathing of panic.
- This might be a typical presentation of acute hyperventilation caused by rapid shallow breathing during moments of high anxiety.
- Ursula Dean's palms were damp as panic pumped through her, escaping in hasty, shallow breathing and agitated heartbeats.
a shallow river The lake is quite shallow. the shallow end of the pool Place the meat in a shallow dish.2not interested in or not showing any understanding of important or serious matters – used to show disapproval: a shallow argument If he’s only interested in your looks, that shows how shallow he is.3shallow breathing breathing that takes in only small amounts of air OPP deep—shallowly adverb: He lay there unconscious, breathing shallowly.—shallowness noun [uncountable]