deep

deep 1 Deep, profound, abysmal.

Deep and profound denote extended either downward from a surface or, less often, backward or inward from a front or outer part.

Deep is the most general term

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a deep pond

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a slope cut by deep gullies

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As applied to persons or to mental states or processes, deep implies the presence or a necessity for the exercise of penetration or subtlety, sometimes of craft

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a deep politician

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deep plots

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a little knowledge often estranges men from religion, a deeper knowledge brings them back to it— Inge

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a deep study of the inner meaning of the work— Braithwaite

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Profound connotes exceedingly great depth

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a gulf profound as that Serbonian bog . . . where armies whole have sunk— Milton

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canyons more profound than our deepest mountain gorges— Cat her

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It may imply the presence or need of thoroughness

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a profound thinker

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a profound treatise

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are, in their meditative depths, among the few profound poems of our day— Untermeyer

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As expressing intensity, profound is commonly stronger than deep

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motherhood, this queer, sensuous, cherishing love ... an emotion more profound than most— Rose Macaulay

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Abysmal carries the idea of abyss, infinite depth, and implies fathomless distance downward, backward, or inward from a surface

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fountain roads . . . within a few inches of abysmal precipices— W. R. Arnold

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It may imply measureless degree and is then used with words denoting a lack of something

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abysmal ignorance

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abysmal darkness

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plays of an abysmal foolishness— Brooks

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Contrasted words: shallow, *superficial: flat, plane, plain, *level

2 *broad, wide