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English
Etymology
From Middle English undergrounde (adverb), equivalent to under + ground or under- + ground. Compare Dutch ondergrond, ondergronds, German Untergrund, Danish undergrunds.
Pronunciation
Adjective
underground (comparative more underground, superlative most underground)
- (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.
- (figurative) Hidden, furtive, secretive.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:hidden, Thesaurus:covert
These criminals operate through an underground network.
- (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."
Derived terms
Translations
- Armenian: ընդերկրյա (hy) (ənderkrya), ստորգետնյա (hy) (storgetnya)
- Belarusian: падзе́мны (padzjémny)
- Bulgarian: подзе́мен (bg) (podzémen)
- Catalan: subterrani (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 地下 (zh) (dìxià)
- Czech: podzemní (cs)
- Dutch: ondergronds (nl)
- Esperanto: subtera
- Finnish: maanalainen (fi)
- French: souterrain (fr)
- Georgian: მიწისქვეშა (mic̣iskveša)
- German: unterirdisch (de), Untegrund- (de)
- Greek: υπόγειος (el) (ypógeios)
- Ancient: ὑπόγειος (hupógeios), ὑπόνομος (hupónomos), χθόνιος (khthónios)
- Hindi: भूमिगत (hi) (bhūmigat), अंतर्भौम (antarbhaum), ज़मींदोज़ (zamīndoz), भूगर्भस्थ (bhūgarbhasth), भूगर्भिक (bhūgarbhik)
- Hungarian: föld alatti
- Icelandic: neðanjarðar
- Ido: subtera (io)
- Ingrian: maanalain
- Italian: sotterraneo (it)
- Japanese: 地下 (ja) (ちか, chika)
- Korean: 땅속 (ko) (ttangsok), 땅굴 (ko) (ttanggul), 땅밑 (ttangmit), 땅아래 (ttang'arae), 지하(地下) (ko) (jiha)
- Latin: subterrāneus
- Macedonian: подземен (podzemen)
- Malay: bawah tanah (ms), banah
- Maori: rarowhenua
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: underjordisk
- Polish: podziemny (pl)
- Portuguese: subterrâneo (pt)
- Romanian: subteran (ro)
- Russian: подзе́мный (ru) (podzémnyj)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: подземан
- Roman: podzeman
- Slovak: podzemný
- Slovene: podzemen
- Spanish: subterráneo (es)
- Swedish: underjordisk (sv)
- Ukrainian: підзе́мний (pidzémnyj)
- Yiddish: אונטערגרונט (untergrunt), אונטערערדיש (untererdish)
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hidden, furtive
- Bulgarian: та́ен (bg) (táen), подмо́лен (bg) (podmólen)
- Catalan: clandestí (ca), secret (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 地下的 (zh) (dìxià de), 秘密的 (zh) (mìmì de), 暗中的 (zh) (ànzhōng de)
- Dutch: ondergronds (nl)
- Finnish: maanalainen (fi)
- French: souterrain (fr), clandestin (fr)
- Georgian: იატაკქვეშა (iaṭaḳkveša), საიდუმლო (saidumlo), ფარული (paruli)
- German: heimlich (de), geheim (de), Untergrund- (de)
- Greek: υπόγειος (el) (ypógeios), μυστικός (el) (mystikós), λαθραίος (el) (lathraíos)
- Hebrew: מַחְתַּרְתִּי (maẖtartí)
- Hungarian: földalatti (hu), illegális (hu), rejtett (hu), titkos (hu)
- Italian: clandestino (it)
- Japanese: 秘密の (ja) (ひみつの, himitsu no), 不法の (ja) (ふほうの, fuhō no), アングラ (angura)
- Macedonian: потаен (potaen)
- Portuguese: clandestino (pt), secreto (pt)
- Russian: подпо́льный (ru) (podpólʹnyj)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: прикрѝвен, по̏та̄јан
- Roman: prikrìven (sh), pȍtājan (sh)
- Yiddish: אונטערערדיש (untererdish)
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Adverb
underground (comparative more underground, superlative most underground)
- Below the ground.
- Synonym: below ground
The tunnel goes underground at this point.
- Secretly.
- Synonyms: clandestinely, in secret, on the quiet
Translations
Noun
underground (plural undergrounds)
- (geography) Regions beneath the surface of the earth, both natural (eg. caves) and man-made (eg. mines).
- (chiefly British) Synonym of subway: a railway that is under the ground.
- Synonym: underground railway
London Underground
- (with definite article) A movement or organisation of people who resist political convention.
- Synonym: resistance
the French underground during World War II
- (with definite article) A movement or organisation of people who resist artistic convention.
- Synonyms: avant-garde, counterculture
Translations
regions beneath the surface of the earth
movement or organisation of people who resist political convention
movement or organisation of people who resist artistic convention
Verb
underground (third-person singular simple present undergrounds, present participle undergrounding, simple past and past participle undergrounded)
- 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.
Translations
to route electricity distribution cables underground
See also
Finnish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English underground.
Pronunciation
Noun
underground
- underground (culture)
Declension
Derived terms
Further reading
French
Etymology
Borrowed from English underground.
Pronunciation
Adjective
underground (invariable)
- underground (outside the mainstream)
Noun
underground m (uncountable)
- (singular only) the underground (people who resist artistic convention)
Further reading
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from English underground.
Pronunciation
Noun
l'underground m (invariable)
- the underground (people who resist artistic convention)
References
Romanian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English underground.
Adjective
underground m or f or n (indeclinable)
- underground
Declension
Declension of underground (invariable)
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plural
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masculine
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neuter
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feminine
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masculine
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neuter
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feminine
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nominative/ accusative
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indefinite
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underground
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underground
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underground
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underground
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definite
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genitive/ dative
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indefinite
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underground
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underground
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underground
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underground
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definite
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Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English underground.
Pronunciation
Noun
underground m (plural undergrounds)
- underground (movement)
Usage notes
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.
Further reading