| English Dictionary |
DEEP
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does deep mean?
• DEEP (noun)
The noun DEEP has 3 senses:
1. the central and most intense or profound part
2. a long steep-sided depression in the ocean floor
3. literary term for an ocean
Familiarity information: DEEP used as a noun is uncommon.
• DEEP (adjective)
The adjective DEEP has 15 senses:
1. relatively deep or strong; affecting one deeply
2. marked by depth of thinking
3. having great spatial extension or penetration downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or laterally or outward from a center; sometimes used in combination
4. very distant in time or space
5. intense or extreme
6. having or denoting a low vocal or instrumental range
7. strong; intense
8. relatively thick from top to bottom
9. extending relatively far inward
10. (of darkness) densely dark
11. large in quantity or size
12. with head or back bent low
13. of an obscure nature
14. difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge
15. exhibiting great cunning usually with secrecy
Familiarity information: DEEP used as an adjective is familiar.
• DEEP (adverb)
The adverb DEEP has 3 senses:
1. to a great depth; far down or in
2. to an advanced time
3. to a great distance
Familiarity information: DEEP used as an adverb is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
The central and most intense or profound part
Classified under:
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations
Context example:
in the deep of winter
Hypernyms ("deep" is a kind of...):
middle (time between the beginning and the end of a temporal period)
Derivation:
deep ((of darkness) densely dark)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A long steep-sided depression in the ocean floor
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Synonyms:
deep; oceanic abyss; trench
Hypernyms ("deep" is a kind of...):
depression; natural depression (a sunken or depressed geological formation)
Instance hyponyms:
Atacama Trench (a depression in the floor of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile)
Bougainville Trench (a depression in the floor of the Pacific Ocean between New Guinea and the Solomon Islands)
Japan Trench (a depression in the floor of the Pacific Ocean to the northeast of Japan that reaches depths of 30,000 feet)
Nares Deep (a depression in the floor of the Atlantic Ocean to the north of Haiti and Puerto Rico)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Literary term for an ocean
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Context example:
denizens of the deep
Hypernyms ("deep" is a kind of...):
ocean (a large body of water constituting a principal part of the hydrosphere)
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: deepest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Relatively deep or strong; affecting one deeply
Context example:
in a deep sleep
Similar:
heavy; profound; sound; wakeless ((of sleep) deep and complete)
profound (coming from deep within one)
Attribute:
deepness; depth (the extent downward or backward or inward)
Antonym:
shallow (not deep or strong; not affecting one deeply)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Marked by depth of thinking
Context example:
a deep allegory
Similar:
profound (showing intellectual penetration or emotional depth)
Derivation:
deepness (the intellectual ability to penetrate deeply into ideas)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Having great spatial extension or penetration downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or laterally or outward from a center; sometimes used in combination
Context example:
waist-deep
Similar:
walk-in ((of e.g. closets or refrigerators) extending very far enough back to allow a person to enter)
profound; unfathomed; unplumbed; unsounded (situated at or extending to great depth; too deep to have been sounded or plumbed)
deep-water (of or carried on in waters of great depth)
abysmal; abyssal; unfathomable (resembling an abyss in depth; so deep as to be unmeasurable)
bottomless (extremely deep)
Also:
unfathomable (of depth; not capable of being sounded or measured)
Attribute:
deepness; depth (the extent downward or backward or inward)
Antonym:
shallow (lacking physical depth; having little spatial extension downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or outward from a center)
Derivation:
deepness (the quality of being physically deep)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Very distant in time or space
Context example:
a deep space probe
Similar:
distant (separated in space or coming from or going to a distance)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Intense or extreme
Context example:
deep happiness
Similar:
intense (possessing or displaying a distinctive feature to a heightened degree)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Having or denoting a low vocal or instrumental range
Synonyms:
bass; deep
Context example:
a bass clarinet
Similar:
low; low-pitched (used of sounds and voices; low in pitch or frequency)
Derivation:
deepness (a low pitch that is loud and voluminous)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Strong; intense
Synonyms:
deep; rich
Context example:
a rich red
Similar:
colorful; colourful (having much or varied color)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Relatively thick from top to bottom
Context example:
deep snow
Similar:
thick (not thin; of a specific thickness or of relatively great extent from one surface to the opposite usually in the smallest of the three solid dimensions)
Derivation:
deepness (the quality of being physically deep)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Extending relatively far inward
Context example:
a deep border
Similar:
broad; wide (having great (or a certain) extent from one side to the other)
Sense 10
Meaning:
(of darkness) densely dark
Synonyms:
deep; thick
Context example:
deep night
Similar:
intense (possessing or displaying a distinctive feature to a heightened degree)
Derivation:
deep (the central and most intense or profound part)
Sense 11
Meaning:
Large in quantity or size
Context example:
deep cuts in the budget
Similar:
big; large (above average in size or number or quantity or magnitude or extent)
Sense 12
Meaning:
With head or back bent low
Context example:
a deep bow
Similar:
low (literal meanings; being at or having a relatively small elevation or upward extension)
Sense 13
Meaning:
Of an obscure nature
Synonyms:
cryptic; cryptical; deep; inscrutable; mysterious; mystifying
Context example:
rituals totally mystifying to visitors from other lands
Similar:
incomprehensible; inexplicable (incapable of being explained or accounted for)
Sense 14
Meaning:
Difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge
Synonyms:
Context example:
some recondite problem in historiography
Similar:
esoteric (confined to and understandable by only an enlightened inner circle)
Sense 15
Meaning:
Exhibiting great cunning usually with secrecy
Context example:
a deep plot
Similar:
artful (marked by skill in achieving a desired end especially with cunning or craft)
Sense 1
Meaning:
To a great depth; far down or in
Synonyms:
deep; deeply
Context example:
dug deep
Sense 2
Meaning:
To an advanced time
Synonyms:
deep; late
Context example:
talked late into the evening
Sense 3
Meaning:
To a great distance
Context example:
went deep into the woods
Pertainym:
deep (very distant in time or space)
Context examples
He sank his head into his hands again and remained for some minutes in the deepest thought.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Right through his broad breast a steel harpoon had been driven, and it had sunk deep into the wood of the wall behind him.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He drew the first whiff of smoke deep into his lungs and expelled it in a long and lingering exhalation.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
If you are married or in an established relationship, your love will grow closer and deeper.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
But now and then there came a deep growl from some wild animal hidden among the trees.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
The woman led the children still deeper into the forest, where they had never in their lives been before.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Above it lie the several minerals in their usual order, and over all is a coat of rich mould, ten or twelve feet deep.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
For you are a young lady of deep reflection, I know, and read great books and make extracts.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
What visitant from the gloom of the deep was I to behold?
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
The voice faded away into a deep breath as of one sleeping, and the open eyes closed again.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Don't be afraid to cry. It will free your mind of sorrowful thoughts." (Native American proverb, Hopi)
"He who speaks about the future lies, even when he tells the truth." (Arabic proverb)
"The pen is mightier than the sword." (Dutch proverb)