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Synonyms

go under

British  

verb

  1. (also preposition) to sink below (a surface)

  2. to founder or drown

  3. to be conquered or overwhelmed

    the firm went under in the economic crisis
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
go under Idioms  

  1. Suffer defeat or destruction; fail. For example, We feared the business would go under after the founder died . [Mid-1800s]

  2. Lose consciousness. For example, Ether was the first anesthetic to make patients go under quickly and completely . This usage dates from the 1930s.

  3. Submerge, sink, as in This leaky boat is about to go under .

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.

Homes that go under contract don’t close immediately—meaning the data reflects market conditions a month or so prior.

From Barron's • Apr. 12, 2026

Listings with such features often go under contract in the first 14 days when compared to similar nearby listings without those features.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 28, 2026

Iger, 74, was ready to go, and the process to find his successor was certain to go under the microscope.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 4, 2026

Never-before-seen memorabilia relating to US rock band The Doors is to go under the hammer in Surrey.

From BBC • Jan. 22, 2026

Motor cars and planes go under water and submarines fly through the air.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

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.