DEPTH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does depth mean? 

• DEPTH (noun)
  The noun DEPTH has 5 senses:

1. the extent downward or backward or inward

2. degree of psychological or intellectual profundity

3. (usually plural) a low moral state

4. the intellectual ability to penetrate deeply into ideas

5. the attribute or quality of being deep, strong, or intense

  Familiarity information: DEPTH used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEPTH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The extent downward or backward or inward

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

deepness; depth

Context example:

depth of a closet

Hypernyms ("depth" is a kind of...):

extent (the distance or area or volume over which something extends)

Attribute:

deep (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)

shallow (lacking physical depth; having little spatial extension downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or outward from a center)

deep (relatively deep or strong; affecting one deeply)

shallow (not deep or strong; not affecting one deeply)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "depth"):

deepness; profoundness; profundity (the quality of being physically deep)

draft; draught (the depth of a vessel's keel below the surface (especially when loaded))

penetration (the depth to which something penetrates (especially the depth reached by a projectile that hits a target))

sounding (a measure of the depth of water taken with a sounding line)

shallowness (the quality of lacking physical depth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Degree of psychological or intellectual profundity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("depth" is a kind of...):

degree; grade; level (a position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "depth"):

profoundness; profundity (intellectual depth; penetrating knowledge; keen insight; etc)

shallowness; superficiality (lack of depth of knowledge or thought or feeling)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(usually plural) a low moral state

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

he had sunk to the depths of addiction

Hypernyms ("depth" is a kind of...):

abasement; abjection; degradation (a low or downcast state)

Domain usage:

plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The intellectual ability to penetrate deeply into ideas

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

astuteness; deepness; depth; profoundness; profundity

Hypernyms ("depth" is a kind of...):

sapience; wisdom (ability to apply knowledge or experience or understanding or common sense and insight)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The attribute or quality of being deep, strong, or intense

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

the depth of his emotion

Hypernyms ("depth" is a kind of...):

attribute (an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of an entity)

 Context examples 

Specimens were positioned in a sample holder on a miniature mechanical stage that could be moved to adjust the depth and focus.

(Smartphone microscope detects nanoparticles and viruses, NIH)

So she went to the sun and said, Thou shinest everywhere, on the hill’s top and the valley’s depth—hast thou anywhere seen my white dove?

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

A minimally invasive form of electroanalgesia, similar to PENS but using deeper needles depths, that is used to treat intractable chronic lower back pain, cancer pain, and other painful disorders.

(Percutaneous Neuromodulation Therapy, NCI Thesaurus)

The ideas that come to you now will emanate deep from within your subconscious, a well of unfathomable depth and a well-spring of new ideas.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

This means that the warm ocean currents at depth can sweep across the glacier faces and erode them.

(The Hidden Meltdown of Greenland, NASA)

The tail was described in depth in the journal Current Biology.

(Dinosaur Tail Found in Myanmar, VOA News)

The map also provides a foundation for the upcoming new version of Google's ocean maps; it will fill large voids between shipboard depth profiles.

(New map uncovers thousands of unseen seamounts on ocean floor, NSF)

One difference between genome sequencing and so-called ‘proteomics’ – studying an individual’s proteins in depth – is that whereas the genome is fixed, the proteome changes over time.

(Study highlights potential for ‘liquid health check’ to predict disease risk, University of Cambridge)

"But shorter wavelengths of light are often desirable at those same deep areas. We have designed a system that can deliver visible laser light at penetration depths accessible to longer wavelengths."

(Tiny, biocompatible laser could function inside living tissues, National Science Foundation)

Returning, I had to cross before the looking- glass; my fascinated glance involuntarily explored the depth it revealed.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)