[Vocabulary] What is the difference between superficial and shallow?

[tatoearashiga]

When someone say, "You are being shallow?" or "You are being superficial?", how do they differ in context?

I know they both mean lacking in depth.

Another example : He is a shallow/superficial writer.

When you hear shallow or superficial, what comes to mind?

 

[Gillnetter]

When someone say, "You are being shallow?" or "You are being superficial?", how do they differ in context?

I know they both mean lacking in depth.

Another example : He is a shallow/superficial writer.

When you hear shallow or superficial, what comes to mind?

When discussing writers, the words are fairly similar. I think of shallow as being just under something - not very deep, but still under. Superficial, on the other hand, seems to mean something that is just on the top of something - a superficial wound, for example, is not very serious and does not very deep into the body. So, in relation to writers, you could say that they do not go very deep into a subject (shallow), or, that they only write about the obvious (the top - superficial) and do not delve deep into a subject.

 

[tatoearashiga]

Thanks for the reply. So if a person is superficial, I guess he has a shallow thinking.

 

[Gillnetter]

Thanks for the reply. So if a person is superficial, I guess he has [STRIKE]a [/STRIKE]shallow thinking.

Shallow doesn't require an article. A better way of writing this might be, "...I guess that he is guilty of shallow thinking".