Showing results for "undermined"

• past tense form of undermine.
• past participle of undermine.

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

At first I thought the exchange undermined my story, making Hildebrand seem less central to the president’s energy policies than I’d suspected.

From Salon • Jun. 24, 2026

But even they could be in some jeopardy if the underlying inflation statistics are undermined.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 17, 2026

“There is a tendency for one to feel disillusioned and even undermined by the other,” astrologer Raymond Merriman said of their birth charts.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 13, 2026

She added that while her daughter's primary school has been supportive, her confidence can be undermined by mistakes or uncertainty in other settings.

From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026

When McCandless came into his world, however, the boy undermined the old man’s meticulously constructed defenses.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

Related Words

• flawed