underground

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌʌndəˈɡɹaʊnd/, (especially for the noun) /ˈʌndəɡɹaʊnd/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌʌndɚˈɡɹaʊnd/, (especially for the noun) /ˈʌndɚɡɹaʊnd/
• Rhymes: -aʊnd
• Hyphenation: un‧der‧ground

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."

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

underground (plural undergrounds)

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

3. (with definite article) A movement or organisation of people who resist political convention.

   Synonym: resistance

   the French underground during World War II

   • 1942, Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch, Casablanca, spoken by Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman):

     Victor, please, don't go to the underground meeting tonight.

4. (with definite article) A movement or organisation of people who resist artistic convention.

   Synonyms: avant-garde, counterculture

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.

• underground railway
• go underground

Unadapted borrowing from English underground.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑnder.ɡrɑund/, [ˈɑ̝nde̞rˌɡrɑ̝und]

underground

1. underground (culture)

• “underground”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-04

Borrowed from English underground.

• IPA^(key): /œ̃.dɛʁ.ɡʁawnd/

underground (invariable)

1. underground (outside the mainstream)

underground m (uncountable)

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

• “underground”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from English underground.

• IPA^(key): /an.derˈɡrawnd/[1]
• Rhymes: -awnd

l'underground m (invariable)

1. the underground (people who resist artistic convention)

Unadapted borrowing from English underground.

underground m or f or n (indeclinable)

1. underground

Unadapted borrowing from English underground.

• IPA^(key): /andeɾˈɡɾaund/ [ãn̪.d̪eɾˈɣ̞ɾãũn̪d̪]
• Rhymes: -aund

underground m (plural undergrounds)

1. underground (movement)

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “underground”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014