undermined

American  

[uhn-der-mahynd, uhn-der-mahynd] / ˌʌn dərˈmaɪnd, ˈʌn dərˌmaɪnd /

adjective

1. attacked, weakened, or defeated by underhand or seemingly harmless actions or by imperceptible stages.

   Both the struggling students and the most gifted ones are receiving limited support from an undermined educational system.

2. weakened or made to collapse by removing underlying support, as by eroding or digging away the foundation.

   With the release of material from the undermined cliffs at these sites, we should have had far more sand to feed the beaches, not less.

3. deliberately weakened by an excavation or tunnel dug underneath, as by an enemy in war.

   When the town was besieged, its defenders abandoned the undermined walls and retired into the citadel.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of undermine.

Etymology

Origin of undermined

undermine ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Undermined by a property market crash, Spain's banks drove the country to seek just over 40 billion euros from its European partners last year to help clean up its financial sector.

From Reuters • Feb. 28, 2013

Undermined, naturally, was their incentive to invest, especially to push network switches closer to residential neighborhoods, the secret to getting cable-like speeds from the old copper phone network.

From Washington Post • May 9, 2012

Oversight Undermined Race officials have always done their best to hide fatal breakdowns, erecting screens around fallen horses and then refusing to disclose the tracks’ accident rates.

From New York Times • Mar. 24, 2012

Contributed by @writeo Haitian Farmers Undermined by Food Aid, the Center for Public Integrity After the Haiti earthquake two years ago,, the U.S. sent 90,000 tons of food worth $140 million to the devastated nation.

From Slate • Jan. 13, 2012

Undermined by a flood of the Yellow River, their synagogue had become ruinous, and, being unable to repair it, they had disposed of its timbers to relieve the pressure of their dire poverty.

From The Awakening of China by Martin, W. A. P. (William Alexander Parsons)

Related Words

• flawed