Showing results for "underwhelming"

• present participle of underwhelm.

underwhelming

British  

/ ˌʌndəˈwɛlmɪŋ /

adjective

1. failing to make a positive impact or impression; disappointing

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Explanation

Something that's underwhelming doesn't live up to your expectations. If your favorite soccer team doesn't play very well this year, you might say they're having an underwhelming season. An underwhelming grade on your math test is a big disappointment, and an underwhelming movie by your favorite director isn't nearly as good as her last one. Anything underwhelming is a big letdown or major disappointment. Underwhelming and underwhelm are much more recent additions to the English language than the 14th-century overwhelm, on which they were modeled. Originally used in the 1800s, underwhelming was a humorous slang term well into the 20th century.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

underwhelming

And Poppi, the prebiotic soda Pepsi bought for nearly $2 billion, is underwhelming: Pepsi now expects to pay almost none of the $300 million bonus it promised the sellers if the brand hit its targets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

Eberechi Eze: Improved after an underwhelming first-half but did not do enough to cause Thomas Tuchel a selection headache after being handed a rare start.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

All these factors show that the underwhelming buyback operation on Thursday is not a “saving grace,” said Will Compernolle, macro strategist at FHN Financial.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

The bank says there was largely a reiteration of familiar strategic messaging and the mid-term building blocks, in addition to somewhat underwhelming mid-term guidance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

Anyway, I hope the HH goes well, and by the way, Aurora coffee is totally not underwhelming.

From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli

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