Underlie
//ˌʌn.dɚˈlaɪ// verb
verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To lie in a position directly beneath something. intransitive
- 2 be or form the base for wordnet
- 3 To lie under or beneath. transitive
"A stratum of clay underlies the surface gravel."
- 4 lie underneath wordnet
- 5 To serve as a basis of; form the foundation of. transitive
"a doctrine underlying a theory"
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- 6 To be subject to; be liable to answer, as a charge or challenge. transitive
"The knight of Ivanhoe […] underlies the challenge of Brian der Bois Guilbert."
- 7 To underlay.
Example
More examples"What reasoning could underlie their latest decision?"
Etymology
From Middle English underlien, underliggen, from Old English underliċġan (“to underlie, to be subject to, give way to”), equivalent to under- + lie. Cognate with Dutch onderliggen (“to lie below, lie on the bottom of”), German unterliegen (“to lie under, be subject to, succumb”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.