depth

nouncommon in dialogue

//dɛpθ//

the vertical distance below a surface; the degree to which something is deep

noun

1
the vertical distance below a surface; the degree to which something is deep
Measure the depth of the water in this part of the bay.
2
the distance between the front and the back, as the depth of a drawer or closet
3
figurativethe intensity, complexity, strength, seriousness or importance of an emotion, situation, etc.
The depth of her misery was apparent to everyone.
The depth of the crisis had been exaggerated.
We were impressed by the depth of her knowledge.
4
lowness
the depth of a sound
5
the total palette of available colors
6
the property of appearing three-dimensional
The depth of field in this picture is amazing.
7
the deepest part (usually of a body of water)
The burning ship finally sunk into the depths.
8
a very remote part.
Into the depths of the jungle...
In the depths of the night,
9
the most severe part
in the depth of the crisis
in the depths of winter
10
the number of simple elements which an abstract conception or notion includes; the comprehension or content
11
a pair of toothed wheels which work together
12
the perpendicular distance from the chord to the farthest point of an arched surface
13
the lower of the two ranks of a value in an ordered set of values
14
A set of more than one ciphertext enciphered with the same key.
15
An invariant of rings and modules, encoding information about dimensionality; see Depth (ring theory).

Etymology

From Middle English depthe, from Old English *dīepþ (“depth”), from Proto-Germanic *diupiþō (“depth”), equivalent to deep + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognates Cognate with Scots deepth, Saterland Frisian Djüpte, West Frisian djipte (“depth; abyss, chasm”), Dutch diepte, German Low German Deepd, Luxembourgish Déift, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål dybde (“depth”), Faroese dýpd (“depth”), Icelandic dýpt, Norwegian Nynorsk djupt, dypt, and Gothic 𐌳𐌹𐌿𐍀𐌹𐌸𐌰 (diupiþa, “depth”); further to Old English diepe, German Tiefe, Icelandic dýpi, Norwegian Nynorsk djup, djupn, Swedish djup.

Forms

plural: depths

Depression · Synonym of Great Depression.deprive · Used with “of”, to take something away from (someone) and…deprived · Subject to deprivation; poor.

depth · the vertical distance below a surface; the degree to which something is deep

depths · The deepest part. (Usually of a body of water.)deputy · One appointed as the substitute of others, and empowered to…der · Disdainful indication that something is obvious.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.