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Small vs Shallow - What's the difference?

small | shallow |

As a proper noun small

is .

As an adjective shallow is

having little depth; significantly less deep than wide.

As a noun shallow is

a shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water.

As a verb shallow is

to make or become less deep.

small

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Not large or big; insignificant; few in numbers or size.
  • * , chapter=5
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}
  • (figuratively) Young, as a child.
  • (writing, incomparable) Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written letters.
  • Envincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.
  • * Carlyle
    • A true delineation of the smallest man is capable of interesting the greatest man.
  • Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.
    • a small space of time

    Synonyms

    * (not large or big) little, microscopic, minuscule, minute, tiny; see also * little, wee (Scottish), young * (of written letters) lowercase, minuscule

    Antonyms

    * See also * (not large or big) capital, big, generous (said of an amount of something given), large * adult, grown-up, old * (of written letters) big, capital, majuscule, uppercase

    Derived terms

    * small arm * small arms * small beer * small calorie * small-cell lung cancer * small change * small claims court * smallclothes * smaller European elm bark beetle * small forward * small fry * smallgoods * smallholder * smallholding * small hours * small intestine * smallish * small-minded * smallmouth * smallmouth bass * smallmouth black bass * smallness * small potatoes * smallpox * smalls * small-scale * small screen * small stuff * smallsword * small talk * small-time * * small wonder * twice as small * twice as small as

    Adverb

    (er)
  • In a small fashion.
  • * (William Shakespeare), (w, A Midsummer Night's Dream) , Act I, scene 2, line 49:
    • That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and / you may speak as small as you will.
  • In or into small pieces.
  • * 2009 , Ingrid Hoffman, CBS Early Morning for September 28, 2009 (transcription)
    • That's going to go in there. We've got some chives small chopped as well.
  • (obsolete) To a small extent.
  • * (rfdate) (William Shakespeare), Sonnets , "Lucrece", line 1273
    • It small avails my mood.

    Derived terms

    * writ small

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.
  • (UK, in the plural) Underclothes.

    • Derived terms

    * small of the back

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To make little or less.
  • To become small; to dwindle.
  • * Thomas Hardy
    • And smalled till she was nought at all.

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * malls 100 English basic words 1000 English basic words ----

    shallow

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Having little depth; significantly less deep than wide.
    • This crater is relatively shallow .
    Saute the onions in a shallow pan.
  • Extending not far downward.
    • The water is shallow here.
  • Concerned mainly with superficial matters.
    • It was a glamorous but shallow lifestyle.
  • Lacking interest or substance.
    • The acting is good, but the characters are shallow .
  • Not intellectually deep; not penetrating deeply; simple; not wise or knowing.
    • shallow learning
  • * Francis Bacon
    • The king was neither so shallow , nor so ill advertised, as not to perceive the intention of the French king.
  • (obsolete) Not deep in tone.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • the sound perfecter and not so shallow and jarring
  • (tennis) Not far forward, close to the net
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=June 28 , author=Jamie Jackson , title=Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=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.}}

    Antonyms

    * deep

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water.
    • The ship ran aground in an unexpected shallow .
  • * Francis Bacon
    • A swift stream is not heard in the channel, but upon shallows of gravel.
  • * Dryden
    • dashed on the shallows of the moving sand
  • A fish, the rudd.

    • Usage notes

    * Usually used in the plural form.

    See also

    * shoal * sandbar * sandbank

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make or become less deep
  • * {{quote-journal, 2009, date=February 6, Andrew Z. Krug et al., Signature of the End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction in the Modern Biota, Science citation
    • , passage=The shallowing of Cenozoic age-frequency curves from tropics to poles thus appears to reflect the decreasing probability for genera to reach and remain established in progressively higher latitudes ( 9 ). }}

    Anagrams

    *