underscore

plural underscores

1. A line drawn or printed beneath text; the character _.

   He walks into the house and picks up a pen. The thought he has is a brilliant idea. He must write it down. Only two words need to be written. The underscore adds importance. / BOUNTY HUNTER

   2007, Richard D. Ondo, “Used Cars in West Virginia”, in A Third Cell in America: A Novel, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 15

   Synonyms: underline, low line

2. entertainmentA piece of background music.

present singular third person underscores · participle present underscoring · participle past underscored · past underscored

1. transitiveTo underline; to mark a line beneath text.

   By convention, Rubyists usually underscore their method names.

   2011, Matt Aimonetti, MacRuby: The Definitive Guide: Ruby and Cocoa on OS X, page 14

2. transitiveTo emphasize or draw attention to.

   I wish to underscore the importance of proper formatting.

   3 more examples

   The tale thus underscores in expressive form the semiparadoxical fact that traders can lie by telling the truth.

   1986, Richard Bauman, Story, Performance, and Event: Contextual Studies of Oral Narrative

   Not trusting filmgoers to catch the drift, Ms. Coppola underscores the women’s attempts to gussy up with snippets of arch dialogue.

   2017 June 30, Ruth La Ferla, “In ‘The Beguiled,’ Pretty Confections Whipped Up to Seduce”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 Oct 2018

   Biden on Monday unveiled new measures to tackle antisemitism on college campuses and senior officials underscored the need to combat anti-Jewish hate.

   2023 October 31, Stephen Collinson, “A new wave of antisemitism threatens to rock an already unstable world”, in CNN, archived from the original on 12 Aug 2024