Meaning of “depth” in the English Dictionary

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"depth" in English

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depthnoun

uk ​ /depθ/ us ​ /depθ/

depth noun (DISTANCE DOWN)

B1 [ C or U ] the distance down either from the top of something to the bottom, or to a distance below the top surface of something:

the depth of a lake/pond
There are very few fish at depths (= distances below the surface) below 3,000 metres.
The river froze to a depth of over a metre.
the depths [ plural ] literary

› the lowest part of the sea:

The ship sank slowly to the depths of the ocean.

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depth noun (SERIOUSNESS)

B2 [ C or U ] the state of having serious qualities or the ability to think seriously about something:

Terry lacks depth - he's a very superficial person.
Her writing shows astonishing depth.
Jo has hidden depths (= serious qualities that you do not see immediately).
in depth

B2 in a serious and detailed way:

I'd like to look at this question in some depth.

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depth noun (DISTANCE BACKWARDS)

› [ C or U ] the distance from the front to the back of something:

Measure the depth of the cupboard/shelf.

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depth noun (DARKNESS)

› [ U ] the fact of something, especially a colour, having the quality of being dark and strong:

I love the depth of colour in her early paintings.

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Grammar

Measurements …
Area: length, width, depth and heightWe use the nouns length, width, depth and height and the adjectives long, wide, deep and high to talk about area and size: …
Weight and volumeWe use the verb weigh to measure weight: …
Frequency, speed, timeWe use many different expressions to describe frequency, speed and time. Here are some of them: …

Idiom(s)

in the depth(s) of somewhere
in the depth(s) of winter
out of your depth

(Definition of “depth” from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

"depth" in American English

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depthnoun [ C/U ]

us ​ /depθ/

depth noun [ C/U ] (DISTANCE DOWN)

› the distance down from the top surface of something to the bottom:

[ C ] They were scuba diving at a depth of 22 meters.
[ U ] The numbers on the left show the depth in inches.

depth noun [ C/U ] (DISTANCE BACKWARD)

› the distance from the front to the back of something:

[ U ] Bookshelves should be at least nine inches in depth.

depth noun [ C/U ] (STRENGTH)

› the strength, quality, or degree of being complete:

[ U ] It’s hard to get a handle on the depth of her knowledge.

depth noun [ C/U ] (SERIOUSNESS)

› the ability to think seriously about something:

[ U ] Don’t look for depth in this show.
in depth

› Something done in depth is done carefully and in great detail:

I interviewed her in depth.
an in-depth report

Idiom(s)

in the depths of something

(Definition of “depth” from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

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