Alternative forms

• under ground, under-ground (now rare)

Adjective

underground (comparative more underground, superlative most underground)Category:English lemmas#UNDERGROUNDCategory:English adjectives#UNDERGROUNDCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#UNDERGROUNDCategory:Pages with entries#UNDERGROUNDCategory:Pages with 6 entries#UNDERGROUND

1. (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.Category:English terms with usage examples#UNDERGROUND

   • 2014 June 14, “It’s a gas”, in The Economist‎, volume 411, number 8891, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 June 2014:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#UNDERGROUND

2. (figurative) Hidden, furtive, secretive.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:hidden, Thesaurus:covert

   These criminals operate through an underground network.Category:English terms with usage examples#UNDERGROUND

3. (figurative) Of or relating to an art forms (such as music) or subculture that is outside the mainstream, especially one that is unofficial and hidden from the authorities.

   Synonyms: alternative, unconventional

   Antonym: mainstream

   underground musicCategory:English terms with usage examples#UNDERGROUND

   • 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.’

     Category:English terms with quotations#UNDERGROUND

   • 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."

     Category:English terms with quotations#UNDERGROUND

Adverb

underground (comparative more underground, superlative most underground)Category:English lemmas#UNDERGROUNDCategory:English adverbs#UNDERGROUNDCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#UNDERGROUNDCategory:Pages with entries#UNDERGROUNDCategory:Pages with 6 entries#UNDERGROUND

1. Below the ground.

   Synonym: below ground

   The tunnel goes underground at this point.Category:English terms with usage examples#UNDERGROUND

2. Secretly.

   Synonyms: clandestinely, in secret, on the quiet

Noun

underground (plural undergrounds)Category:English lemmas#UNDERGROUNDCategory:English nouns#UNDERGROUNDCategory:English countable nouns#UNDERGROUNDCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#UNDERGROUNDCategory:Pages with entries#UNDERGROUNDCategory:Pages with 6 entries#UNDERGROUND

1. (geographyCategory:en:Geography#UNDERGROUND) The regions beneath the surface of the earth, both natural (eg. caves) and man-made (eg. mines).
2. (chiefly BritishCategory:British English#UNDERGROUND) Synonym of subway: a railway that is under the ground.

   Synonym: underground railway

   London UndergroundCategory:English terms with usage examples#UNDERGROUND

4. (with definite article) A movement or organization of people who resist political convention.

   Synonym: resistance

   the French underground during World War II

   Category:English terms with usage examples#UNDERGROUND

   • 1942, Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch, Casablanca, spoken by Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman):

     Victor, please, don't go to the underground meeting tonight.

     Category:English terms with quotations#UNDERGROUND

5. (with definite article) A movement or organization of people who resist artistic convention.

   Synonyms: avant-garde, counterculture

Verb

underground (third-person singular simple present undergrounds, present participle undergrounding, simple past and past participle undergrounded)Category:English lemmas#UNDERGROUNDCategory:English verbs#UNDERGROUNDCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#UNDERGROUNDCategory:Pages with entries#UNDERGROUNDCategory:Pages with 6 entries#UNDERGROUND

1. 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#UNDERGROUND

   • 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#UNDERGROUND

   • 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#UNDERGROUND

Verb

undergroundCategory:English non-lemma forms#UNDERGROUNDCategory:English verb forms#UNDERGROUNDCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#UNDERGROUNDCategory:Pages with entries#UNDERGROUNDCategory:Pages with 6 entries#UNDERGROUND

1. simple past and past participle of undergrind

Declension

Derived terms

Declension

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.