Meanings
plural underlooks
- rareA concealed or oblique glance.
[…] exultingly cried Lord Carhampton, stealing an underlook at Maurice O'Driscoll, whom ^([sic]) he knew was wont to boast of his Milesian lineage; […]
1884, M. L. O'Byrne, Ill-won Peerages, Or, An Unhallowed Union, page 4271 more example
[…] rubbing his hands busily, rocking back and forth with one foot in front of the other, his head down but watching Watson with an underlook that was very arrogant, cocky, […]
1973, Jack Kerouac, Visions of Cody, New Directions, →ISBN
present singular third person underlooks · participle present underlooking · participle past underlooked · past underlooked
- raretransitiveTo look up at from below; to inspect from underneath.
They would be Shepherds and feed his Sheep, and anoint them for the Scab, and underlook them.
1682, Edmund Hickeringill, The black Non-Conformist, discover'd, iii, 143 more examples
Upon a rough table-ledge, they came to it at last; the place where they could lean in between the trees, and overlook and underlook the shining tumult [of the waterfall].
1873, A.D.T. Whitney, The Other Girls, page 242[…]they would be Shepherds and feed his Sheep, and anoint them for the Scab, and underlook them, but not worry them, nor destroy them[…]
1709, Edmund Hickeringill, “The Black Nonconformist”, in The Works of the Reverend Mr Edm. Hickeringill, page 36On this occasion at the Mamounia in Marrakesh, we occupied a room underlooking the garden — yes, 'underlooking', for we were just below ground level in a room with a wall that sloped outwards and up to a reinforced glass ceiling.
2016, John Carter, Gullible's Travels: Tales by an International Towel Thief, pages 194-195 - raretransitiveTo fail to notice or give due importance to, especially because one is notionally looking too low (found in complement with overlook, as if it meant "to fail to notice because one is looking too high").
"Do you remember Calkin's story about the quarrel he overheard—and underlooked?"
2016, H. F. Heard, The Great Fog: And Other Weird Tales2 more examples
Existing review research has focused on specific terms, underlooking important developments in the area.
2020, Vera Ferreira et al., “Stakeholders' Engagement on Nature-Based Solutions: A Systematic Literature Review”, in Sustainability, volume 12, number 620, page 19The CHAIRMAN. I am not overlooking anything. I am just making inquiry of you for information. Mr. THOMSON. I know you do not overlook anything. The CHAIRMAN. I am not overlooking or underlooking, but just listening to you and trying to get your viewpoint.
1950, Hearings before the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Eighty-First Congress, Second Session, volume 2, page 2656
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Middle Englishunderloken“look up at? be suspicious of?”
- Englishunderlook
From Middle English underloken (“look up at? be suspicious of?”), equivalent to under- + look.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
underlook. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underlook
“underlook.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underlook. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “underlook,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underlook.
Source: underlook on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.