📖 U — The English dictionary · page 7

underperforming — Everyday, meaning 1: (jargon, euphemism) doing badly; not as good as expected or needed.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (finance) making less money than others.↗ Example: (school report) The inspectors named three underperforming schools.↗ · (office) He was told he was underperforming and could lose his job.↗ · (news) The shares are underperforming the market.↗ · (sport) The team has been underperforming all season.↗ · (teacher, kindly) You're underperforming in maths — let's find out why.↗ · (chat) my plants are underperforming lol↗

underprivileged — Everyday, meaning 1: Underprivileged means having less money, fewer chances and fewer good things in life than most people.↗ Example: The charity gives books to underprivileged children.↗ · Our school collects toys for underprivileged families.↗ · She grew up in an underprivileged area.↗ · Every child, privileged or underprivileged, deserves a good school.↗ · The club offers free sports for underprivileged kids.↗ · The money helps the underprivileged in our city.↗

underrate — Everyday, meaning 1: To think that someone or something is worth less than it really is.↗ Example: Do not underrate your friends.↗ · Many people underrate good sleep.↗ · The team underrated their rivals.↗

undersea — Everyday, meaning 1: Undersea means below the surface of the sea or happening under the sea.↗ Example: Divers explored the undersea caves.↗ · An undersea cable carries internet signals across the ocean.↗ · Some islands are the tops of undersea volcanoes.↗ · The film showed the colourful undersea world of a coral reef.↗ · A train goes through an undersea tunnel.↗ · The mermaid lived in an undersea palace.↗

underside — Everyday, meaning 1: The underside is the bottom side or surface of something, the part facing down.↗ Example: Turn the leaf over to look at its underside.↗ · Woodlice live on the underside of logs.↗ · The underside of the mushroom has gills.↗ · Ladybirds lay eggs on the underside of leaves.↗ · The price was on the underside of the box.↗ · The boat's underside was covered in barnacles.↗ · A starfish's underside has tiny tube feet.↗

understand — Everyday, meaning 1: To understand is to know what something means or how it works.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To understand someone is to know how they feel or why they act as they do.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: «I understand that …» can mean «I have heard that …».↗ Example: Do you understand the question?↗ · I don't understand this word.↗ · Now I understand how magnets work.↗ · My mum understands how I feel.↗ · Read it again until you understand it.↗ · She understood the joke at last.↗ · We understand each other without words.↗ · Can you make yourself understood in French?↗ · She did not understand even now.↗ · If they were wise, they would understand this, they would discern their latter end.↗ (Torah DEU.32.29, JPS 1917)↗ · For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them.↗ (Torah DEU.32.28, JPS 1917)↗ · Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.'↗ (Torah GEN.11.7, JPS 1917)↗ · Declare, if thou hast the understanding.↗ (Writings JOB.38.4, JPS 1917)↗ · And where is the place of understanding?↗ (Writings JOB.28.12, JPS 1917)↗ · What understandest thou, which is not in us?↗ (Writings JOB.15.9, JPS 1917)↗

understandable — Everyday, meaning 1: Understandable means easy to understand; clear.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Understandable also means normal or reasonable in that situation, so you can see why someone feels or acts that way.↗ Example: Write your instructions so they are understandable.↗ · It's understandable that you are nervous before the test.↗ · Her drawing made the map understandable.↗ · Being sad when your pet dies is understandable.↗ · The teacher explained it in an understandable way.↗ · His anger was understandable, but shouting was not okay.↗

understate — Everyday, meaning 1: To understate means to say that something is smaller, less important or less serious than it really is.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Understated (adjective) also means simple and quiet in style, not showy: «an understated dress».↗ Example: He understated how hurt he was, so no one took him to the nurse.↗ · «A bit chilly» understates it — it's freezing!↗ · The report understated the number of people affected by the flood.↗ · Don't understate the danger of thin ice.↗ · Her clothes were simple and understated.↗ · Calling the storm «breezy» was a huge understatement.↗

understatement — Everyday, meaning 1: An understatement is a way of saying something that makes it sound smaller, weaker or less important than it really is.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Understatement is the habit or style of speaking this way, often for humour or politeness.↗ Example: Saying the hurricane was «a bit windy» is an understatement.↗ · «It's an understatement to say I was hungry – I was starving!»↗ · British people are known for understatement.↗ · The coach called our 10–0 win «not bad», which was an understatement.↗ · Find the understatement in the poem.↗ · To say the test was hard is an understatement.↗

understood — Everyday, meaning 1: Understood is the past of «understand»: knew or got the meaning of something.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Understood means known or agreed without being said: «it is understood that…».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: «Understood» on its own means «I understand and I will do it».↗ Example: I understood the question the second time.↗ · Have you all understood the instructions?↗ · She finally understood why her friend was sad.↗ · «Be home by six.»↗ «Understood.»↗ · He made himself understood with hand signals.↗ · Nobody understood the joke.↗ · It is understood that phones stay in bags.↗ · He understood the gypsy woman's meaning now.↗ · And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for the interpreter was between them.↗ (Torah GEN.42.23, JPS 1917)↗ · After that our father Abraham had seen, and pondered over, investigated, and understood these things, he designed, engraved, and composed them, and received them into his power (hands).↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1887)↗ · The expression בְּלִי[]מָה beli[-]mah can be understood as either one word or two, with both readings being plausible and perhaps intended, and manuscripts commonly varying between the one- and two-word renditions.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗ · Have ye not understood the foundations of the earth?↗ (Prophets ISA.40.21, JPS 1917)↗ · David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come of a certainty.↗ (Prophets 1SA.26.4, JPS 1917)↗ · Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it.↗ (Writings JOB.13.1, JPS 1917)↗

undertake — Everyday, meaning 1: To agree to do a piece of work or take on a job or task, often a big or hard one.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To promise to do something.↗ e.g. He undertook to pay the money back.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (UK, informal driving) To overtake a vehicle on the wrong side (the inside lane).↗ Example: Our class undertook a project on recycling.↗ · Scientists undertook a long study of whales.↗ · She undertook to look after the class hamster.↗ · Building the new bridge is a huge undertaking.↗ · Don't undertake a long hike without enough water.↗ · It is dangerous to undertake on the motorway.↗ · “I will undertake the defence,” said Fionn.↗

undertaker — Everyday, meaning 1: A person whose job is to prepare dead bodies for burial or cremation and to arrange funerals; in the US also called a funeral director or mortician.↗ Example: The undertaker arranged the funeral.↗ · The family phoned the undertaker when Grandpa passed away.↗ · The undertaker wore a black suit and a tall hat.↗ · In the western film, the undertaker measured the cowboy for a coffin.↗ · The undertaker drove the hearse slowly.↗ · The undertaker's shop was on the high street.↗

undertaking — Everyday, meaning 1: A big or difficult job or project.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) A promise to do something.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: The work of an undertaker (arranging funerals).↗ Example: Building the tree house was a big undertaking.↗ · Climbing the mountain was a dangerous undertaking.↗ · The shop gave an undertaking to refund faulty goods.↗ · Moving house is quite an undertaking.↗ · The project was a joint undertaking by two schools.↗ · She is undertaking a course in first aid.↗ · To cross to the opposite shore was an undertaking fraught with danger to life and limb.↗

undertone — Everyday, meaning 1: A quiet, low voice used so others cannot hear: speak in an undertone.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A hidden feeling or meaning under the words.↗ Example: He spoke in an undertone.↗ · She said it in a soft undertone.↗ · There was an angry undertone in his words.↗

underwater — Everyday, meaning 1: Underwater means below the surface of water, or done or used under water.↗ Example: Fish breathe underwater using gills.↗ · She can swim underwater for ten seconds.↗ · We wore goggles to see underwater.↗ · Submarines travel underwater.↗ · An underwater camera took photos of the reef.↗ · Never hold someone underwater as a joke; it is dangerous.↗

underwear — Everyday, meaning 1: Underwear is the clothing you wear next to your skin, under your other clothes, like pants, knickers, briefs, vests and bras.↗ Example: Put on clean underwear every morning.↗ · I packed underwear and socks for the trip.↗ · Underwear goes in the drawer.↗ · Thermal underwear keeps you warm in the snow.↗ · The parts your underwear covers are private.↗ · My little brother put his underwear on backwards.↗ · Wash new underwear before wearing it.↗

underwood — Everyday, meaning 1: Low bushes and shrubs growing under the tall trees of a wood.↗ Example: The fox crept into the underwood.↗ · The hare lay hidden in the underwood.↗ · We lost the path in the underwood.↗

underworld — Everyday, meaning 1: In fairy tales, a land under the ground where kings and magic beings live.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The land of the dead.↗ Example: The hero went down to the underworld.↗ · A quail sat in a tree in the underworld.↗ · The king of the underworld had many castles.↗

undeserved — Everyday, meaning 1: Not deserved; not earned or fair, whether good or bad: an undeserved punishment, an undeserved prize.↗ Example: The detention was undeserved – I wasn't even there.↗ · They won, but it was an undeserved victory.↗ · He got undeserved praise for work his sister did.↗ · The dog has an undeserved reputation for biting.↗ · She felt her bad mark was undeserved.↗ · An undeserved telling-off can feel very unfair.↗ · If, on the other hand, undeserved ill-luck followed him through life, and all his efforts resulted in failure, it was ascribed to her adverse influence.↗

undesirable — Everyday, meaning 1: Not wanted because it is bad, harmful or unpleasant: undesirable side effects.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) Not suitable or not good to have or do.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (noun, old-fashioned, unkind) A person thought to be unwanted in a place.↗ Example: Weeds are undesirable plants in a vegetable patch.↗ · The medicine can have undesirable side effects like sleepiness.↗ · Leaving food out overnight is undesirable because germs grow.↗ · It is undesirable for pupils to run in the corridors.↗ · Noise from the road was an undesirable part of living there.↗ · The club tried to keep out undesirable visitors.↗ · So unhappy was she that she spent all her time wondering how she should get rid of her undesirable husband.↗

undetected — Everyday, meaning 1: Not noticed, found or discovered.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Not found by a test or a machine: «The illness went undetected.».↗ Example: The cat crept past the dog undetected.↗ · The spy slipped into the castle undetected.↗ · A gas leak can go undetected without an alarm.↗ · The tiny germs were undetected until the microscope was used.↗ · His mistake remained undetected until the teacher checked.↗ · The rabbit stayed undetected under the bush.↗ · This was because he had no great opinion of the simple country deities, but thought that the thief would not pass undetected by the shrewder gods of the town.↗

undigested — Everyday, meaning 1: (of food) Not broken down by the body yet, or not broken down at all.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (of facts or ideas) Not thought about or understood properly yet.↗ Example: Some seeds pass through birds undigested and grow into new plants.↗ · Fibre leaves the body mostly undigested, but it is still good for you.↗ · The owl coughed up a pellet of undigested fur and bones.↗ · He crammed the facts the night before, and they stayed undigested.↗ · Swimming straight after a big meal with food still undigested can feel uncomfortable.↗ · The report was full of undigested numbers.↗

undignified — Everyday, meaning 1: Making you look silly or embarrassed; not calm, proper or serious.↗ Example: Slipping on the ice was very undignified.↗ · Toad was thrown into the water in a most undignified way.↗ · The cat made an undignified leap and missed.↗ · It's undignified to sulk in public.↗ · The judge's wig fell off in an undignified moment.↗ · He climbed out in an undignified scramble.↗ · She had to run about after him, though it was rather undignified.↗

undiminished — Everyday, meaning 1: Not made smaller, weaker or less; still as strong as before.↗ Example: After ten laps, his energy was undiminished.↗ · Her love of reading remained undiminished as she grew up.↗ · The storm raged on with undiminished force.↗ · The crowd's cheering was undiminished even in the rain.↗ · The total stayed undiminished because nobody spent any money.↗ · Despite the setback, their hope was undiminished.↗

undisclosed — Everyday, meaning 1: Undisclosed means not told or not made public; kept secret.↗ Example: The footballer joined the club for an undisclosed fee.↗ · The prize was sold for an undisclosed amount.↗ · The witness was moved to an undisclosed location for safety.↗ · She left the job for undisclosed reasons.↗ · The company paid an undisclosed sum to settle the case.↗ · The name of the winner remains undisclosed until Friday.↗