SHALLOWS Synonyms: 12 Similar and Opposite Words

shallows

noun

plural of shallow

as in shoal

a place where a body of water (as a sea or river) is shallow we waded through the shallows looking for tadpoles

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of shallows Some rolled and splashed in the shallows, regulating their body temperature after lying in the Arctic sun, others lay motionless, deep in sleep. — Sarah Kingdom, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026 Take things up a notch and reserve in advance for Dinner on the Sandbar, a private five-course dinner in the shallows surrounding Little Palm Island. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 19 Aug. 2026 Parents lingered at the waterline, kids darted in and out of the shallows, more confident swimmers fanned out into deeper water and others settled up the sand with a beach read in hand. — Caitlin Looby, jsonline.com, 6 Aug. 2026 At Brooks Falls, visitors watch from elevated platforms as the bruins barrel through the shallows in pursuit of silvery fish or stake out prime positions on the lip of the falls, waiting for salmon to vault from the water into their gaping maws. — Bailey Berg, Travel + Leisure, 1 Aug. 2026 Azzuro said the shallows of the eastern Mediterranean have lost 93% of their mollusk population. — ABC News, 30 July 2026 Barring bedding season in the early summer when large fish guard nests in the shallows, bigger fish will hang out in deeper, cooler water most of the time. — Joe Cermele, Outdoor Life, 9 July 2026 Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay are Instagram classics, and the shallows off Maho Bay are known for sea turtles. — David Dickstein, Oc Register, 17 June 2026 As the boat pulls in, the children clamber over the side, wading through the shallows past abandoned, submerged school buildings. — Tommy Trenchard, NPR, 31 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for shallows

Noun

The offerings of any decent oyster shucker will change according to the seasons and the tides and the shoals and the shipping lines and the harbor freight and the rush-hour traffic on the interstate.

— Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 23 Aug. 2026
Volunteers and staff with the nonprofit foundation removed alligatorweed from the shoals manually but are working on grant proposals to remove more.

— John Marks, Charlotte Observer, 31 July 2026

Definition of shoal

Noun

Instead, detectives say the group used falsified invoices and documents and transferred cash into personal bank accounts.

— Chelsea Jones, CBS News, 28 Aug. 2026
Pioneers Hancock and Willis Lee began making whiskey along the banks of the Kentucky River, where Buffalo Trace stands today.

— Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of bank

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shallowness

shallows

sham

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“Shallows.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shallows. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of shallows

noun

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