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underground

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Underground

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

    From Middle English undergrounde (adverb), equivalent to under +‎ ground or under- +‎ ground. Compare Dutch ondergrond, ondergronds, German Untergrund, Danish undergrunds.

    Alternative forms

    Adjective

    underground (comparative more underground, superlative most underground)

    1. (not comparable) Below the ground; below the surface of the Earth.
      Synonyms: subterranean, hypogean
      There is an underground tunnel that takes you across the river.
      • 2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist‎, volume 411, number 8891:
        One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.
    2. (figurative) Hidden, furtive, secretive.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:hidden, Thesaurus:covert
      These criminals operate through an underground network.
    3. (of music, art etc.) Outside the mainstream, especially unofficial and hidden from the authorities.
      Synonyms: unconventional, alternative
      Antonym: mainstream
      underground music
      • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, page 27:
        ‘ […] he wrote to me last week telling me about an incredible bitch of a row blazing there on account of someone having been and gone and produced an unofficial magazine called Raddled, full of obscene libellous Oz-like filth. And what I though, what Sammy and I thought, was—why not?’ ‘Why not what?’ said Tom. ‘Why not do the same thing here?’ ‘You mean an underground magazine?’ ‘Yup.’
      • 2010 March 20, James Campbell, “Barry Miles: 'I think of the 60s as a supermarket of ideas. We were looking for new ways to live'”, in The Guardian‎:
        "In many ways, it showed there was no longer an underground, as such. This proved that there was no longer one society with everyone agreeing how to live . . . The underground had officially come above ground, and consequently no longer existed."
    Derived terms
    Translations

    Adverb

    underground (comparative more underground, superlative most underground)

    1. Below the ground.
      Synonym: below ground
      The tunnel goes underground at this point.
    2. Secretly.
      Synonyms: clandestinely, in secret, on the quiet
    Translations
    below the ground

    Noun

    underground (plural undergrounds)

    English Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia
    1. (geography) Regions beneath the surface of the earth, both natural (eg. caves) and man-made (eg. mines).
    2. (chiefly British) Synonym of subway: a railway that is under the ground.
      Synonym: underground railway
      London Underground
    4. (with definite article) A movement or organisation of people who resist political convention.
      Synonym: resistance
      the French underground during World War II
    5. (with definite article) A movement or organisation of people who resist artistic convention.
      Synonyms: avant-garde, counterculture
    Translations

    Verb

    underground (third-person singular simple present undergrounds, present participle undergrounding, simple past and past participle undergrounded)

    1. To route electricity distribution cables underground.
      • 1962, David Pesonen, “Battles Over Energy”, in Carolyn Merchant, editor, Green Versus Gold: Sources in California's Environmental History‎, Island Press, published 1998, →ISBN, page 325:
        One is to underground where no other alternative will work, and this method should be used universally in urban regions as it now is in “downtown” sections.
      • 2004, Don L. Ivey, C. Paul Scott, “Solutions”, in Transportation Research Board Committee on Utilities, editor, Utilities and Roadside Safety‎, State of the Art Report 9, Transportation Research Board, →ISBN, page 9:
        Also, undergrounding may not eliminate the potential for crashes with other roadside objects, such as trees, walls, buildings, and so forth. [...] When looking at the fesibility of undergrounding utilities, the complete roadside area and nearby adjacent properties should be evaluated for potential roadside obstructions or hazards.
      • 2006, Janes Northcote-Green, Robert Wilson, “Design, Construction and Operation of Distribution Systems, MV Networks”, in Control and Automation of Electrical Power Distribution Systems‎, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 110:
        The utility now wants the network to be undergrounded in the urban areas, which would mean substations with 33 kV distribution swtichgear.
    Translations

    See also

    Etymology 2

    Verb

    underground

    1. simple past and past participle of undergrind
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    Finnish

    Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from English underground.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈɑnder.ɡrɑund/, [ˈɑ̝nde̞rˌɡrɑ̝und]
    • Rhymes: -ɑund

    Noun

    underground

    1. underground (culture)

    Declension

    More information nominative, genitive ...
    More information first-person singular possessor, singular ...

    Derived terms

    compounds

    Further reading

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    French

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English underground.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /œ̃.dɛʁ.ɡʁawnd/

    Adjective

    underground (invariable)

    1. underground (outside the mainstream)

    Noun

    underground m (uncountable)

    1. (singular only) the underground (people who resist artistic convention)

    Further reading

    Italian

    Romanian

    Spanish

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