underexpose
Americanverb (used with object)
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underexposes,
present (3rd person singular)
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underexposed,
past participle, past
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underexposing
present participle
verb
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photog to expose (a film, plate, or paper) for too short a period or with insufficient light so as not to produce the required effect
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(often passive) to fail to subject to appropriate or expected publicity
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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underexposesimple
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underexposessimple
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have underexposedperfect
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has underexposedperfect
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am underexposingprogressive
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are underexposingprogressive
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is underexposingprogressive
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have been underexposingperfect progressive
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has been underexposingperfect progressive
Past
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underexposedsimple
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had underexposedperfect
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was underexposingprogressive
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were underexposingprogressive
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had been underexposingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of underexpose
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:
Bright, reflective snow can trick your light meter, causing auto exposure to underexpose and create gray snow.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 11, 2021
If I underexpose an image, purposely, it’s not looked at as simply my perspective or personal aesthetic.
From New York Times ● May 20, 2021
But sometimes I prefer to underexpose a scene to give it a certain mood, or to overexpose and warm up the colors in order to simulate a bright and sunny day.
From The Verge ● Nov. 3, 2015
Robert Trevis-Smith used a clever technique to underexpose this image and said: “It works best with blackbirds because they sort of blend into the dark background.”
From BBC ● Dec. 25, 2013
They overexpose it, underexpose it, triple-expose it, superimpose three film tracks on a fourth, mix black and white, sepia and full color in the same shot.
From Time Magazine Archive
In a time when Korean culture dominates the pop sphere, this exhibition defines the highpoints of earlier Korean aesthetics for U.S. audiences otherwise underexposed to them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
Yet in the main, Ireland's squad - outside their starting XV and a handful of select others - feels underexposed to the highest level of Test rugby.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2026
“The world recognizes it is still overexposed to the U.S. dollar and underexposed to gold,” Gleason told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2025
“If you’re naïve, you’ll be underexposed to energy and utilities and underweight the U.S., and that’s a lot of extraneous risk.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 14, 2022
I turned toward the underexposed photo of Chinmoy still on my shrine.
From Take Me for a Ride: coming of age in a destructive cult by Mark Eliot Laxer
The problem: “Because I’m underexposing the image, the actors’ faces get quite dark, so you need to shine really bright lights on Gary and Amanda’s faces.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2021
By underexposing his shots, he made the colors became more saturated.
From New York Times ● Sep. 22, 2017
You can make the case that someone like Alex Webb was underexposing Kodachrome 20 years ago, printing Cibachromes from it and getting vibrant colors.
From New York Times ● Jul. 22, 2010
Some photographers have been led to think that by underexposing they retain the distance, but they sacrifice the foreground; besides, it does not produce an orthochromatic effect.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889 by Various
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.
