Dictionary

deep-set en · ADJ

Etymology

From deep + set.

Meanings

1. Set deeply below a surface, as on a face.
   • His haggard eyes were deep-set, sunken into their sockets from exhaustion.
   • Deep-set and steady, with eyelashes that many a woman had envied, they [the eyes] showed the man for what he was—a sportsman and a gentleman. And the combination of the two is an unbeatable production. 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, chapter 1, in Bulldog Drummond:
2. (figuratively) firmly in place; long-standing
   • deep-set beliefs
   • deep-set inequalities

Forms