skin-deep

English

Alternative forms

• skin deep

Pronunciation

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Adjective

skin-deep (not comparable)

1. (figuratively) Shallow, superficial.

   Antonym: bone-deep

   • 1850 May 1, Thomas Carlyle, “No. V. Stump-Orator.”, in Latter-Day Pamphlets, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 180:

     Dead enough; to live thenceforth a galvanic life of mere Stump-Oratory; screeching and gibbering, words without wisdom, without veracity, without conviction more than skin-deep.

   • 1878, Robert Louis Stevenson, An Inland Voyage, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], →OCLC:

     Would the wicked river drag me down by the heels, indeed? and look so beautiful all the time? Nature’s good-humour was only skin-deep after all.

   • 1902, Joseph Conrad, “The End of the Tether”, in Youth: A Narrative: And Two Other Stories, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and sons, →OCLC:

     “He calls himself a white man,” answered the Master-Attendant scornfully; “but if so, it’s just skin-deep and no more. I told him that to his face too.”

   • 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XLVII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:

     She was wantonly aesthetic; but she was an excellent creature, kind and good natured; and her affectations were but skin-deep.

   • 1919 October, John Galsworthy, chapter 1, in Saint’s Progress, London: William Heinemann, published December 1919, →OCLC, part III, page 242:

     The painter smiled at once, his bright, skin-deep smile.

   • 2007 January 10, The Independent:

     Chris Huhne, environment spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said Mr Blair's remarks showed he was "delusional" on climate change and that his environmentalism was only "skin deep".

   • 2010 July 24, Guy Dammann, “Technology fetishism is skin deep”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     What news stories like this really show is that the rampant technology fetishism, which runs like e-wildfire through our i-society, is really only skin-deep.

   • 2020 June 3, George Monbiot, “Britain's claims to being a functioning democracy are only skin deep”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Britain's claims to being a functioning democracy are only skin deep [title]

Related terms

• beauty is only skin deep

Translations

superficial

• Bulgarian: повърхностен (bg) (povǎrhnosten), недълбок (bg) (nedǎlbok)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 膚淺／肤浅 (zh) (fūqiǎn)

• Dutch: oppervlakkig (nl)
• German: oberflächlich (de)
• Maori: kirimoko
• Spanish: superficial (es)