profound

English

Etymology

Late Anglo-Norman profound, from Old French profont, from Latin profundus, from pro + fundus (“bottom; foundation”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /prəˈfaʊnd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊnd

Adjective

profound (comparative more profound, superlative most profound)

1. Descending far below the surface; opening or reaching to a great depth; deep.
   • (Can we date this quote?), John Milton

     A gulf profound

2. Very deep; very serious
3. Intellectually deep; entering far into subjects; reaching to the bottom of a matter, or of a branch of learning; thorough; as, a profound investigation or treatise; a profound scholar; profound wisdom.
   • 1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, English Writers on America:

     Where no motives of interest or pride intervene, none can equal them for profound and philosophical views of society, ….

4. Characterized by intensity; deeply felt; pervading; overmastering; far-reaching; strongly impressed; as, a profound sleep.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Shakespeare

     Profound sciatica

   • (Can we date this quote?), Henry Hart Milman

     Of the profound corruption of this class there can be no doubt.

5. Bending low, exhibiting or expressing deep humility; lowly; submissive; as, a profound bow.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Dupp

     What humble gestures! What profound reverence!

Translations

descending below the surface

• Dutch: diep (nl), diepgaand (nl)
• Finnish: syvä (fi)
• Romanian: profund (ro), care e în adânc (ro)

• Russian: глубокий (ru) (glubokij)
• Spanish: profundo (es)
• Turkish: derin (tr)

intellectually deep

• Czech: hluboký (cs) m, oduševnělý (cs)
• Dutch: wijs (nl)
• Finnish: syvällinen (fi)
• Italian: profondo (it) m
• Polish: głęboki (pl)

• Romanian: profund (ro), adânc (ro)
• Russian: глубокий (ru) (glubokij), основательный (ru) (osnovatelʹnyj), мудрый (ru) (mudryj)
• Spanish: profundo (es)
• Turkish: derin (tr)

characterized by intensity

• Dutch: diepgaand (nl)
• Finnish: perusteellinen (fi)
• Romanian: profund (ro) (intensiv)

• Russian: глубокий (ru) (glubokij)
• Spanish: profundo (es)

bending low

• Russian: низкий (ru) (nizkij)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: profond (fr)
• German: tief (de), profund (de)
• Italian: profondo (it)
• Portuguese: profundo (pt)

• Romanian: profund (ro)
• Swedish: djupsinnig (sv), klartänkt (sv), skarpsinnig (sv)

Noun

profound (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) The deep; the sea; the ocean.

   God in the fathomless profound Hath all this choice commanders drowned. Sandys.

2. (obsolete) An abyss.

Verb

profound (third-person singular simple present profounds, present participle profounding, simple past and past participle profounded)

1. (obsolete) To cause to sink deeply; to cause to dive or penetrate far down.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Thomas Browne to this entry?)

2. (obsolete) To dive deeply; to penetrate.

Related terms

• profundity
• profoundness

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Old French

Adjective

profound m (feminine profounde)

1. Late Anglo-Norman spelling of parfunt.