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

The decibel levels were rarely matched in an underwhelming first set for the home favourites, but the noise quickly returned when they rallied in the second set.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

Milos Kerkez has had an underwhelming start to the campaign at left-back but the hope is that he can peak under Iraola, whom he worked with previously at Bournemouth.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

Picked near the top of their respective drafts, both men crafted passable but underwhelming careers in the league.

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026

For Saturday’s installment, the self-proclaimed “carefully curated celebration” produced a somewhat underwhelming set of undercards, with LCD Soundsystem and the Strokes carrying the momentum for the entire affair.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

Does she really want to hear about her daughter’s deeply underwhelming and unhappy existence in school?

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day