Dictionary

profoundly en · ADV

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /pɹəˈfaʊndli/

Etymology

From Middle English profoundly, profoundely, equivalent to profound + -ly.

Meanings

1. With depth, meaningfully.
   • He thought and wrote profoundly.
2. (qualifier:evaluative) Very importantly.
   • More profoundly, it has shaken our most fundamental assumptions.
3. (qualifier:degree) Deeply; very; strongly or forcefully.
   • In 1997, Turkheimer, perhaps the preëminent behavior geneticist of his generation, published a short political meditation called “The Search for a Psychometric Left,” in which he called upon his fellow-liberals to accept that they had nothing to fear from genes. He proposed that “a psychometric left would recognize that human ability, individual differences in human ability, measures of human ability, and genetic influences on human ability are all real but profoundly complex, too complex for the imposition of biogenetic or political schemata.) 2021 September 6, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, quoting Eric Turkheimer, “Can Progressives Be Convinced That Genetics Matters?”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Sep 2021, retrieved 24 Aug 2025:
   • Leo was sleeping profoundly, and on the whole I thought it wise not to wake him. 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
   • In fact, the influence of signage in a certain area may exist anywhere on a continuum from profoundly effective to utterly trivial or completely insignificant, irrespective of the intent motivating the signs. 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 11:
   • Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney said Monday if the Supreme Court does not resolve the issue of presidential immunity “quickly and decisively,” it will have a “profoundly negative impact” on the country. 2024 April 22, Colin McCullough, quoting Liz Cheney, “Cheney warns of ‘profoundly negative impact’ if SCOTUS doesn’t resolve Trump immunity case quickly”, in CNN:
   • From his childhood, she was profoundly troubled.

Forms

Translations (10)

ru глубоко́ (in a profound manner) · el βαθιά (in a profound manner) · nl grondig (in a profound manner) · eo profunde (in a profound manner) · fi syvällisesti (in a profound manner) · uk гли́боко (in a profound manner) · ca profundament (in a profound manner) · pt profundamente (in a profound manner) · es profundamente (in a profound manner) · it profondamente (in a profound manner)