Underlie Meaning
/ˌʌn.dəˈlaɪ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo lie in a position directly beneath something.
verbTo lie under or beneath.
Sentence Examples
What reasoning could underlie their latest decision?
Who knows what disagreements underlie this agreement?
CEFR Practice Quiz
The fundamental laws of physics, such as gravity and electromagnetism, ____ all natural phenomena in the universe.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Several complex factors ____ the recent economic changes, and the experts are still debating the primary cause today.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…] 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 Wyck:
"Some 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 4:
"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:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The fundamental laws of physics, such as gravity and electromagnetism, ____ all natural phenomena in the universe.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Several complex factors ____ the recent economic changes, and the experts are still debating the primary cause today.