Meanings
present singular third person underlies · participle present underlying · past underlay · participle past underlain
- intransitiveTo lie in a position directly beneath something.
- transitiveTo lie under or beneath.
A stratum of clay underlies the surface gravel.
- transitiveTo serve as a basis of; form the foundation of.
a doctrine underlying a theory
2 more examples
[…] she was carved into the bole of a red cedar tree. Sun and storm had bleached the wood, moss here and there softened the crudeness of the modelling; sincerity underlay every stroke.
1941, Emily Carr, chapter 6, in Klee WyckSome poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.
2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4Synonyms: underpin
- transitiveTo be subject to; be liable to answer, as a charge or challenge.
The knight of Ivanhoe […] underlies the challenge of Brian der Bois Guilbert.
1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC - businessTo underlay.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo serve as a basis of; form the foundation of.
Origin
- Old Englishunderliċġan“to underlie, to be subject to, give way to”
- Middle Englishunderlien
- Englishunderlie
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”).
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian стоя в основата на
- стоя в основата на (stoja v osnovata na)to serve as a basis of
Chinese Mandarin 构成基础
- 构成基础to serve as a basis of
Dutch ten grondslag liggen aan
- ten grondslag liggen aanto serve as a basis of
Finnish olla perustana
- olla perustanato serve as a basis of
French sous-tendre
- sous-tendreto serve as a basis of
German zugrunde liegen
- zugrunde liegento serve as a basis of
Indonesian mendasari, melandasi
- mendasarito serve as a basis of
- melandasito serve as a basis of
Japanese 基礎となる
- 基礎となる (kiso to naru)to serve as a basis of
Portuguese fundamentar, basear
- fundamentarto serve as a basis of
- basearto serve as a basis of
- embasarto serve as a basis of
- sustentarto serve as a basis of
- subjazerto serve as a basis of
Spanish subyacer
- subyacerto serve as a basis of
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with underlie
All rhymes →Cite this entry
underlie. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underlie
“underlie.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underlie. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “underlie,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underlie.
Source: underlie on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.