underling

[ uhn-der-ling ]

noun

1. a subordinate, especially one of slight importance.

   Synonyms: hireling, lackey, flunky, menial

underling

/ ˈʌndəlɪŋ /

noun

1. a subordinate or lackey

Word History and Origins

Origin of underling¹

1125–75; Middle English. See under-, -ling ¹

Example Sentences

These changes led to the early retirements of elder yakuza leaders, and many underlings also stepped aside.

From Washington Post

It happened to the women who worked for Dan Snyder and his underlings.

From Washington Post

During the stressful ramp-up of production for the Model 3, for instance, he comes across as raging and unstable, bullying his underlings, willing to fire anyone in sight and blaming others for problems that he himself caused.

From Washington Post

It’s the constant threat of activating her temper that keeps her underlings hustling.

From Time

In 2016, she sent Shen and a pair of her underlings, including current police chief David Nisleit, to Milwaukee to see for themselves how that city was incorporating ShotSpotter into its investigative work.

From Voice of San Diego

Christine is very flirtatious, giggling, caressing, and locking eyes with her ambitious underling.

From The Daily Beast

As Stanley was absorbing this information, in walked Whitey, with his underling Kevin Weeks.

From The Daily Beast

The other possibility is that the smear campaign is the handiwork of an off-the-script underling.

From The Daily Beast

When he had pointed that out to an underling he was off again, and Raf was free to continue his crab's progress.

From Project Gutenberg

A casually minded Government took no notice of the little incident, which after all only concerned an Armenian underling.

From Project Gutenberg

Persis could not conceivably mate herself for life to a peevish underling like him.

From Project Gutenberg

Sometimes he is merely an underling, as in the case of the Massachusetts Kiehtan, and his more familiar subordinate, Hobamoc.

From Project Gutenberg

A huge reward was offered in the hope that it might induce some discontented underling in the band to expose his comrades.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• attendant