under
Language: English
Part of speech: prep
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈʌndə/
ipa: [ˈɐn.də(ɹ)]
enpr: ŭnʹ-dər
ipa: /ˈʌndɚ/
ipa: [ˈʌn(ɾ)ɚ]
ipa: [ˈʌɾ̃ɚ]
ipa: /ˈʊndə/
rhymes: -ʌndə(ɹ)
Etymology: From Middle English under, from Old English under, from Proto-West Germanic *undar, from Proto-Germanic *under, from a merger of Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér (“under”) and *h₁entér (“inside”).
Akin to German unter, Dutch onder, Danish and Norwegian under; also Old High German untar (“under”), Sanskrit अन्तर् (antar, “within”), Latin infrā (“below, beneath”) and inter (“between, among”).
Senses: examples: text: We found some shade under a tree.
text: Quick, stuff the cash under the mattress!
text: There is nothing new under the sun.
text: There is an oil leak under the car.
text: The little boys in the front bedroom had thrown off their blankets and lay under the sheets.
ref: 1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC:
text: Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale.[…]Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.
ref: 2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28:
glosses: Beneath; below; at or to the bottom of, or the area covered or surmounted by.
examples: text: Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants!
ref: 1998, “SpongeBob SquarePants Theme”, in Stephen Hillenburg, Derek Drymon (lyrics), SpongeBob SquarePants: Original Theme Highlights:
glosses: Beneath; below; at or to the bottom of, or the area covered or surmounted by.
Below the surface of.
examples: text: I crawled under the fence.
text: There is a tunnel under the English Channel.
glosses: From one side of to the other, passing beneath.
examples: text: Interest rates are now under 1%.
text: We can get there in under an hour.
glosses: Less than.
examples: text: We were constantly under bombardment.
text: I can't live under these circumstances.
text: The matter is under investigation.
glosses: Subject to.
examples: text: He served in World War II under General Omar Bradley.
text: During the pandemic, we had to live under severe restrictions.
text: Under the law and concession agreement with other parties, the private company must pay taxes in time and on a right amount.
text: There is general agreement that his military forces were organized into six divisions. They were stationed at the following places: at Ti-hua under the command of Liu Hsi-tsen, at T'a-ch'eng under Chiang Sung-lin, at Ili under Niu Shih, at A-shan under Wei Chen-kuo, at A-k'o-su under Chang Tzu-t'ing, and at Ko-shih-ko-erh (Kashgar) nominally under Tsou-ying, but in reality under Chin's brother, Chin Shu-chih.
ref: 1987, Arthur C. Hasiotis, Jr., Soviet Political, Economic, and Military Involvement in Sinkiang from 1928 to 1949, Garland Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 62:
text: He was then denied by a magnificent tackle from captain Terry as Liverpool continued to press - but Chelsea survived as the memories of the nightmare under Villas-Boas faded even further into the background.
ref: 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport:
text: Dati launched a blistering attack on the prime minister, François Fillon, under whom she served as justice minister, accusing him of sexism, elitism, arrogance and hindering the political advancement of ethnic minorities.
ref: 2011 December 14, Angelique Chrisafis, “Rachida Dati accuses French PM of sexism and elitism”, in Guardian:
glosses: Subject to.
Subordinate to; subject to the control of; in accordance with; in compliance with.
examples: text: File this under "i" for "ignore".
glosses: Within the category, classification or heading of.
examples: text: England's World Cup dreams fell apart under a French onslaught on a night when their shortcomings were brutally exposed at the quarter-final stage.
ref: 2011, Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France:
text: to collapse under stress; to give in under interrogation
glosses: In the face of; in response to (some attacking force).
examples: text: J.K. Rowling has written a crime novel called 'The Cuckoo's Calling' under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
ref: 2013, The Huffington Post, JK Rowling Pseudonym: Robert Galbraith's 'The Cuckoo's Calling' Is Actually By Harry Potter Author:
text: He writes books under the name John Smith.
text: She now lives under a new identity.
glosses: Using or adopting (a name, identity, etc.).
Synonyms: below
beneath
underneath