- to lie or be placed under or beneath
- to be the foundation, cause, or basis of: careful planning underlies all our decisions
- to take priority over (another claim, liability, mortgage, etc)
- to be the root or stem from which (a word) is derived: "happy" underlies "happiest"
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
un•der•lie /ˌʌndɚˈlaɪ/USA pronunciation
v. [~ + object], -lay, -lain, -ly•ing.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- to lie under.
- to form the foundation of.
un•der•lie
(un′dər lī′),USA pronunciation v.t. -lay, -lain, -ly•ing.
- to lie under or beneath;
be situated under. - to be at the basis of;
form the foundation of. - Grammarto function as the root morpheme or original or basic form of (a derived form):The form "boy'' underlies "boyish.''
- Business[Finance.]to be primary to another right or security.
- Middle English underlyen (verb, verbal), Old English underlicgan. See under-, lie2 bef. 900
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
underlie /ˌʌndəˈlaɪ/ vb ( -lies, -lying, -lay, -lain) (transitive)
'underlie' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):