Underneathness
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The quality of being underneath. uncountable
"While seeing at last beneath the surface of things, he sees that underneathness is not so much a system as a unity. He does glimpse the system: what he sees is the trace of a process, and that process is a system at work."
- 2 A space (literal or figurative) that is underneath. uncountable
"A house’s underneathness is crushing—weight of sleep pressing from the flats above, little lumps of coal releasing miniature avalanches which rattle down the black pile, furnace grimly dead, asbestos-covered arms prying into every corner."
Example
More examples"While seeing at last beneath the surface of things, he sees that underneathness is not so much a system as a unity. He does glimpse the system: what he sees is the trace of a process, and that process is a system at work."
Etymology
From underneath + -ness.