underwhelm
[uhn-der-hwelm, -welm]
- to fail to interest or astonish: After all the ballyhoo, most critics were underwhelmed by the movie.
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Origin of underwhelm
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for underwhelmed
Contemporary Examples
Now let's take a quick survey of the blockbusters that have underwhelmed this summer at the box office.
Maria “Macarena” Paz, a Caracas engineer, is underwhelmed by this explanation.
So far, pretty much every one of those promised improvements has underwhelmed, and the skeptics have been vindicated.
Clearly the Academy was underwhelmed by the eligible songs this year.
Call me a snob, but I was prepared to be underwhelmed by the food.
underwhelm
- (tr) to make no positive impact or impression on; disappoint
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Word Origin
C20: originally a humorous coinage based on overwhelm
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
Word Origin and History for underwhelmed
underwhelm
v.
1953 (implied in underwhelming), a facetious play on overwhelm. Related: Underwhelmed; underwhelmingly.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper