ankle-deep

Thân thiện

The children waded ankle-deep in the clear stream.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Coming only to the ankle or knee: Describes a depth of water, mud, snow, or another substance that reaches approximately the level of a person's ankles or, in some uses, knees.

Usage

• The word ankle-deep is used attributively (before a noun) or predicatively (after a linking verb like 'was' or 'were') to describe the shallow depth of a substance one is standing or wading in.
• It often implies immersion or involvement, but only to a minor or initial degree.

Examples

• Adjective (Attributive):
  • We waded through the ankle-deep water to cross the stream.
  • The hikers trudged through ankle-deep mud after the rainstorm.
• Adjective (Predicative):
  • The floodwater was only ankle-deep in the street.
  • By the time we reached the field, the snow was already ankle-deep.

Advanced Usage

• Figurative Use: Can describe being involved in a situation, activity, or emotion to a minor or initial extent.
  • He was already ankle-deep in the project's planning phase.
  • She found herself ankle-deep in trouble after missing the deadline.

Variants and Related Words

• Knee-deep (adj): Reaching to the knees; often used similarly but implies a greater depth or degree of involvement.
  • They were knee-deep in paperwork.
• Shin-deep (adj): Reaching to the shins; a less common variant describing a depth between ankle and knee.

Synonyms

• Shallow: Of little depth (more general).
• Wadeable: Shallow enough to walk through.

Related Phrases

• Ankle-deep in: Involved in something to a minor or beginning degree.
  • He's ankle-deep in his new research.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. coming only to the ankle or knee

Từ đồng nghĩa

• knee-deep