underlying

underlying (not comparable)

1. lying underneath

   We dug down to the underlying rock.

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto II:

     Old Yew, which graspest at the stones
     ⁠That name the under-lying dead,
     ⁠Thy fibres net the dreamless head,
     Thy roots are wrapt about the bones.

   • 1950 January, “Re-Signalling at Liverpool Lime Street Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 43:

     During the track renewals, advantage was taken to redrain the area and the old spent ballast was removed down to the underlying rock, new ballast and drains being provided throughout.

   • 2012, Chinle Miller, In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition:

     Sometimes, the underlying layers are exposed by erosion, revealing the story of the rocks like an open book.

2. basic or fundamental

   Points and straight lines are underlying elements of geometry.

   • 2020 December 2, Christian Wolmar, “Wales offers us a glimpse of an integrated transport policy”, in Rail, page 56:

     The underlying problem with transport policy is that there no coherent strategy. Ministers have tended to encourage greater use of motor vehicles through both transport and (particularly) planning policies, while simultaneously warning of the terrible consequences of unfettered growth of road use.

3. implicit

   Many nursery rhymes have an underlying meaning.

underlying (plural underlyings)

1. (finance) The entity from whose performance a derivative derives its value.

underlying

1. present participle and gerund of underlie

• enduringly