profundité

Profundité is a French noun that denotes the quality of being deep or profound. It can refer to literal depth or, more commonly, to depth of thought, feeling, or meaning. The term derives from Latin profunditas, from profundus “deep,” and is closely related to the adjective profond.

In practice, profundité is more formal and literary than the everyday word profondeur, which is used for physical depth and also for some figurative senses. Profundité tends to emphasize intellectual or metaphysical intensity rather than measurable depth.

In literature, philosophy, and criticism, profundité signals a work’s serious, weighty, or reflective character. Collocations include la profundité des idées, la profondeur de l’argumentation, or the perceived profundité d’une œuvre. It can also describe emotional or spiritual depth in poetic or religious contexts.

Today, profundité remains relatively specialized and is less common in casual speech. It appears in essays, scholarly writing, and elevated literary prose, where speakers wish to convey a heightened sense of conceptual or existential depth.

See also profundity; depth; profondeur.