undermine
Americanverb (used with object)
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to injure or destroy by insidious activity or imperceptible stages, sometimes tending toward a sudden dramatic effect.
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to attack by indirect, secret, or underhand means; attempt to subvert by stealth.
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to make an excavation under; dig or tunnel beneath, as a military stronghold.
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to weaken or cause to collapse by removing underlying support, as by digging away or eroding the foundation.
verb
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(of the sea, wind, etc) to wear away the bottom or base of (land, cliffs, etc)
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to weaken gradually or insidiously
their insults undermined her confidence
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to tunnel or dig beneath
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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underminesimple
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underminessimple
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have underminedperfect
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has underminedperfect
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am underminingprogressive
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are underminingprogressive
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is underminingprogressive
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have been underminingperfect progressive
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has been underminingperfect progressive
Past
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underminedsimple
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had underminedperfect
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was underminingprogressive
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were underminingprogressive
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had been underminingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of undermine
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English underminen; see under-, mine 2
Explanation
To undermine literally means to dig a hole underneath something, making it likely to collapse. But we more often use the word to describe sabotage or the act of weakening someone else's efforts. Originally spelled with a ‘y’ instead of an ‘i’, undermine has Germanic roots and means "to weaken, hinder, or impair." Accidentally undermine the foundation of a house by digging a tunnel to China beneath it and you might be forgiven. Undermine your teacher’s authority by speaking out of turn and throwing spitballs and odds are you’ll get in trouble.
Vocabulary lists containing undermine
The Crucible
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Grade 9, List 2
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Caregiving responsibilities can undermine the future retirement security of caregivers if they are unable to save for retirement or add to their Social Security credits because they’ve stepped away from the workforce.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
He warned that unmanaged cross-border movement could undermine security and social order, and said no country could address the challenge alone.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
We hear the underdog aesthetic term rasquachismo used to describe these early impromptu performances: essentially a colorful funkiness, “so funky that nothing can undermine you,” Valdez says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Dirie told the BBC that while Somalia effectively regulated phone numbers in the country, WhatsApp's new feature would undermine that.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
He was sure Ginny, Neville, and Luna were sitting together at this moment, perhaps wondering where he, Ron, and Hermione were, or debating how best to undermine Snape’s new regime.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
This obviously undermines the investment argument for the “picks and shovel” stocks of the AI infrastructure build-out, like the chip makers.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Truly creative and inspiring art undermines that goal, because it provokes responses like empathy and critical thinking in audiences — which gets in the way of authoritarian domination.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
Turk said the lack of transparency and clarity surrounding the circumstances of the deaths undermines accountability.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
Tell employees they are empowered while assigning seats and locking down the furniture, and the space undermines the message.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
“When you start becoming reflective about the process, it undermines your ability. You lose the flow. There are certain kinds of fluid, intuitive, nonverbal kinds of experience that are vulnerable to this process.”
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
Mediators said Iran’s rejection has undermined attempts to revive a preliminary peace deal signed by Tehran and Washington last month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
A series of exam irregularities in India have undermined trust in the testing system, including the leak of a medical entrance question paper that forced more than two million candidates to retake the test.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Both Exposito and Martinez agreed that the data from the World Cup should be informative for Hollywood, where Latino talent continues to be undermined.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Others were vulnerable because of shoddy construction amid rampant corruption that undermined an otherwise-strong building code.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
He never once angered or frightened Shin or undermined his recovery.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
The unexplained, silent changing of casualty statistics - for both the wounded and the dead - was criticised as undermining transparency.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
She also said “the claim that Mr. Bisignano’s growing responsibilities at JPMorgan were accompanied by a pattern of undermining colleagues is patently untrue and inaccurate.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
The whole reason thousands of men fought a war over the most beautiful woman alive is that there’s only one of them — unless undermining that excuse is the point.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
But Greenpeace said the project will only "create temporary jobs while undermining existing livelihoods in fishing, tourism and small-scale local economies".
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
But the thought keeps worming back in, undermining every attempt to rout it out.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
