profoundness

Other forms: profoundnesses

Profoundness is the characteristic of being full of meaningful insight. The profoundness of your favorite movie's final moments may make you cry every single time you watch it.

Profoundness and profound come from the Latin root profundus, which means "deep, vast," and also "obscure." This sense of obscurity, or being hard to understand, is evident in philosophical profoundness — you know it's deep and important, but you're not sure you totally get it. Another kind of profoundness is intensity. After you wake from a terrible nightmare, the profoundness of your fear may keep you frozen in terror for several minutes.

Definitions of profoundness

1. noun

   the quality of being physically deep
   synonyms: deepness, profundity

   types:

   bottomlessness

   the property of being very deep; without limit

   type of:

   deepness, depth

   the extent downward or backward or inward
2. noun

   extremeness of degree
   “the profoundness of his ignorance”

   type of:

   ultimacy, ultimateness

   the state or degree of being ultimate; the final or most extreme in degree or size or time or distance, "the ultimacy of these social values"
3. noun

   intellectual depth; penetrating knowledge; keen insight; etc
   “the profoundness of the silence”

   synonyms: profundity

   type of:

   depth

   degree of psychological or intellectual profundity
4. noun

   the intellectual ability to penetrate deeply into ideas
   synonyms: astuteness, deepness, depth, profundity

   type of:

   sapience, wisdom

   ability to apply knowledge or experience or understanding or common sense and insight
5. noun

   wisdom that is recondite and abstruse and profound
   synonyms: abstruseness, abstrusity, profundity, reconditeness

   type of:

   wisdom

   accumulated knowledge or erudition or enlightenment