underwood
noun
woody shrubs or small trees growing among taller trees.
underwood
American
[uhn-der-wood]
/ ˈʌn dərˌwʊd /
noun
-
underwoods
plural
-
woody shrubs or small trees growing among taller trees.
-
a clump or stretch of such growth.
Underwood
1
British
/ ˈʌndəˌwʊd /
noun
underwood
2
British
/ ˈʌndəˌwʊd /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of underwood
First recorded in 1275–1325, underwood is from the Middle English word underwode. See under-, wood 1
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:
"Carrie underwood being an antimasker is just sad," wrote another.
From Fox News ● Aug. 18, 2021
“The natural underwood has been grubbed up,” Olmsted wrote at the time, “the trees, to a height of 10 to 15 feet, trimmed to bare poles.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 13, 2016
Then I heard their footsteps die away as they plunged through the thick underwood, and I was alone.
From A Lad of Grit A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea in Restoration Times by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman
We were travelling in a grove of trees, with a thick underwood, except just where a path was cut wide enough for a single mule to pass.
From March to Magdala by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
In some places the trees grew closely together, with a thick underwood, which shut-in the path on both sides, and through which the road had been partially cleared by the 33d.
From March to Magdala by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
The property, which was listed in June, is represented by Ryan Underwood of Keller Williams Copper City Realty and records show that the residence is still registered under Blackstock’s full name—Narvel Brandon Blackstock.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
Hastings started the 1990 Grand Slam decider and made a famous, shuddering tackle on England winger Rory Underwood as Scotland triumphed 13-7 at Murrayfield.
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
Aryan Simhadri, who portrays Percy’s best friend Grover Underwood in the series, spoke out last year about an unsettling encounter with a handsy fan when a group of “40 drunk college girls” recognized him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
The Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul proudly advertises its “Agatha Christie Room,” complete with a replica of the black Underwood typewriter Christie used.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
The staff all used Underwood manual typewriters with threadbare ribbons and yellowed keys.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
For preventing injury to flowering and other plants, shrubs, vegetation, trees, woods and underwoods on or near the said river.
From Boating by W. B. Woodgate
Could we thus stand upon the hilltops and keep watch through the long coal building ages, we should see generation after generation of forest trees and underwoods living, withering, dying, falling to earth.
From Eighth Reader by James Baldwin
Along the river where dense underwoods grew, hundreds of Indians lay concealed with their canoes, waiting for the schooner.
From Four American Indians King Philip, Pontiac, Tecumseh, Osceola by F. M. (Frances Melville) Perry
Farewell, the goodly Manor of Blackacre, with all its woods, underwoods, and appurtenances whatever.—WYCHERLEY:
From Alice, or the Mysteries — Complete by Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton
It deals with the shady underwoods of the financial world.
From A Zola Dictionary; the Characters of the Rougon-Macquart Novels of Emile Zola; by J. G Patterson
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.
