deepest

Deepest is the superlative form of the adjective deep, used to indicate the greatest depth within a particular set, context, or comparison. It is applied to physical measurements such as water, land features, and underground spaces, as well as to non-physical dimensions like emotion, time, or abstract inquiry. For example, one might refer to the deepest point in the ocean, the deepest mine, or the deepest level of a philosophical question.

Etymology and usage notes: the word deep derives from Old English dēop, and the comparative and superlative forms are built with the standard English suffixes -er and -est to yield deeper and deepest. In everyday language, deepest often emphasizes extremity within a defined scope, and it frequently appears in geophysical, geological, and exploratory contexts as well as in metaphorical expressions.

Notable records and contexts: the deepest known point in the world’s oceans is the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, at about 36,000 feet (roughly 11,000 meters) below the surface. The deepest mine is among the South African operations, with depths around 4 kilometers below ground. The deepest natural cave currently documented is Veryovkina Cave in Georgia, with a depth of about 2,212 meters. The deepest freshwater lake is Lake Baikal in Siberia, at approximately 1,642 meters deep. These records illustrate how deepest is used to describe extreme measurements across natural and engineered environments, as well as in metaphorical language.