proˈfoundly, adv.
[f. profound a. + -ly2.]
In a profound manner or degree; deeply.
1. To or at a great depth or distance from the surface. Also fig.
| c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 5693 Whan I had the lettres rad, Which in the stonys..Wer profoundely and depe y-grave. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xlvii. 118 Þe more profoundly þat a man goþ dovn into himself and waxiþ vile to himself, þe hyer he stieþ up to god. 1840 Browning Sordello vi. 360 My soul o'ertops Each height,—than every depth profoundlier drops. 1857 Dunglison Med. Lex., Profundus,..a name given to..parts, which are seated profoundly as regards others. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus xvii. 11 Where..descends most profoundly the bottom. |
b. So as to come from or sink to a great depth; with a deep breath (as in sighing) or inclination (as in bowing). Sometimes with mixture of sense 3.
| 1480 Caxton Ovid's Met. xi. xix, She wayled & sighed perfoundly. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iv. ii. 83 Why sigh you so profoundly?..tell me sweet Vnckle, what's the matter? 1700 Dryden Cinyras & Myrrha 184 The virgin started at her father's name, And sigh'd profoundly. a 1811 Blake Poet. Wks. (1905) 231 Then,..bowing profoundly, he said: ‘A great wig’. |
2. With intellectual depth; with great insight or penetration into a subject; very learnedly.
With learned, wise, etc., this nearly coincides with sense 3.
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xvi. 73 He preched mare profoundely of Haly Writte þan oþer didd. 1561 Godly Q. Hester (1873) 15 In learninge and litterature, profoundely seene. 1693 Apol. Clergy Scot. 39 This is profoundly wise. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 157 ¶7 A Person..profoundly learned in Horse-flesh. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 63/2 Those who have not studied very profoundly. |
3. Intensely, extremely, thoroughly, very greatly; to a depth of quality, state, or degree.
| 1502 W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione iii. xv. 210 Howe profoundely ought I to submytte me to thy hydde & depe iugementis. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 167 b, Yf the herte be profoundly meke. 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 105 He..wanted money the sinews of war, his Exchequer being profoundly dry. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. ix. 209 They found all..as profoundly secure as sleep..could make them. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 175 Profoundly ignorant of the English constitution. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) II. xi. 241 A poet and a profoundly religious man. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 32 The..limits were kept profoundly secret. |