underrate
Americanverb (used with object)
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underrates,
present (3rd person singular)
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underrated,
past participle, past
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underrating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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underratesimple
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underratessimple
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have underratedperfect
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has underratedperfect
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am underratingprogressive
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are underratingprogressive
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is underratingprogressive
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have been underratingperfect progressive
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has been underratingperfect progressive
Past
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underratedsimple
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had underratedperfect
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was underratingprogressive
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were underratingprogressive
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had been underratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of underrate
Explanation
To underrate something is to underestimate its value. If critics underrate a great movie, they don't give it enough credit for its brilliant acting and well-written script. If most people underrate the Polish restaurant in your neighborhood, they'll be pleasantly surprised once they give it a try. High school football players tend to underrate the importance of gracefulness in their sport, and your math teacher may underrate the amount of time it takes you to do your calculus homework. The verb underrate has been around since the 1640's, although back then it was generally spelled with a hyphen: under-rate.
Vocabulary lists containing underrate
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:
“I think a lot of people underrate my speed, my explosiveness,’’ he said.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 1, 2024
“It made me realize that we often ignore and underrate highly populated places for ichthyological exploratory studies. We now understand not to leave any stones unturned.”
From Scientific American ● Mar. 25, 2022
When it comes to Lloyd Webber’s musical audacity, it can sometimes feel as if it’s not just rock snobs that underrate “Superstar,” but also self-professed musical theater lovers.
From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2021
So you can’t underrate how massive this win was.
From Fox News ● Oct. 10, 2021
"What are you doing? If he's going to help you, he has to know what you're capable of. Don't underrate yourself," says Peeta.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
This prevailing narrative underrates Ms. Sears and her political chemistry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2025
Whenever anybody asks me about Balanchine, I think of what Jack Nicholson said about Stanley Kubrick: “Everyone pretty much acknowledges him as The Man, and I still think that underrates him.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2024
Peterson finished with 16 yards on 11 carries, a line that obviously doesn’t stand out, but that somewhat underrates his contribution.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 5, 2021
“I think that the medical profession grossly underrates human abilities,” said Eric Topol, a cardiologist and professor at Scripps Research Institute.
From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2016
No ambition should be entertained that does not embrace these fundamental duties and no career should be considered worthy that even underrates their sanctity.
From A Broader Mission for Liberal Education Baccalaureate Address, Delivered in Agricultural College Chapel, Sunday June 9, 1901 by John H. (John Henry) Worst
There’s a difference between a film that becomes a cult classic because it’s genuinely underrated, and one that achieves that status through the unholy, rose-colored lens of social media obsession.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
“Lioness” and “MobLand” are violent fun, “Colin From Accounts” is terrific, ”Diarra From Detroit” is an underrated gem and the sports lineup is solid.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
Despite this, over the past decade, he has quietly become one of the conservative legal movement’s most influential operators, making Paoletta an underrated political power in his own right.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
For Italian travel expert and writer Alessia Armenise, supermarkets are an underrated gem.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
“I think pain is the most underrated emotion available to us,” the Count said.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
I’m not saying criminally underrating someone like Yamamoto should be prosecutable, I’m just wondering why anyone would?
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2026
“I think the industry is underrating and underinvesting given the scale,” Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman told me the other day during our appearance at a Paley Center for Media event in Menlo Park, Calif.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025
It is possible that we are now underrating the Sooners, who have won four games by one score?
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2021
At the same time, Salmon and Lewis-Kraus appear to be overestimating the cost of failure in Silicon Valley—and underrating its value.
From Slate ● May 27, 2014
Almost all the disasters that we have met with in Africa have been caused by underrating the enemy, or fancying security where there was danger.
From Sporting Scenes amongst the Kaffirs of South Africa by A. W. (Alfred Wilks) Drayson
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.
