underlie
verb
un·der·lie
| \ ˌən-dər-ˈlī
\
\
underlay\ ˌən-dər-ˈlā
\;
underlain\ ˌən-dər-ˈlān
\;
underlying\ ˌən-dər-ˈlī-iŋ
\
\;
underlain\ ˌən-dər-ˈlān
\;
underlying\ ˌən-dər-ˈlī-iŋ
\
Definition of underlie
Examples of underlie in a Sentence
A tile floor underlies the rug.
The river is underlain by limestone.
We discussed the principles that underlay their methods.
A theme of revenge underlies much of her writing.
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Recent Examples on the Web
In contrast, Russiagate involved no underlying crime. — Deroy Murdock, National Review, "Obstruction? There Was No Obstruction.," 2 Aug. 2019 Arnautoff signaled the country’s underlying crimes by taking a more critical view of Washington’s life, portraying his ownership of slaves and his support of the genocidal Western expansion. — Roberta Smith, New York Times, "The Case for Keeping San Francisco’s Disputed George Washington Murals," 26 July 2019 But reasons other than seasonality underlie many matches of a particular food with its perfect flavor or ingredient partner. — Bill St. John, The Denver Post, "Tips on complementing summer flavors in the kitchen," 23 July 2019 Timing and navigation data underlies all digital systems, since server networks (read: the entire internet) use satellite timekeeping to sync their clocks and interoperate. — Wired, "Europe's Weeklong Satellite Outage Is Over—But Still Serves as a Warning," 18 July 2019 Those prison stints had to run consecutive to any sentence the judge gave for the underlying violent crimes. — Eric Heisig, cleveland.com, "Tremont carjacker has sentenced reduced following appeals court ruling, Trump-signed criminal justice reform bill," 20 June 2019 In this investigation, the evidence does not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference. — Marc A. Thiessen, The Mercury News, "Thiessen: Trump is right and Stephanopoulos is wrong on collusion," 19 June 2019 The new study suggests that too little inhibition of brain activity might underlie the link, says Mark Wallace, dean of the graduate school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, who was not involved in the work. — Scientific American, "Visual Task May Offer Brain Marker for Autism," 19 Aug. 2019 That highlights the fact that underlying price pressures, from wages from example, remain subdued. — Washington Post, "More eurozone stimulus expected after inflation revised down," 19 Aug. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'underlie.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for underlie
underlie
verb
English Language Learners Definition of underlie
: to lie or be located under (something)
: to form the basis or foundation of (an idea, a process, etc.)
See the full definition for underlie in the English Language Learners Dictionary
underlie
verb
un·der·lie
| \ ˌən-dər-ˈlī
\
\
underlay\ -ˈlā \;
underlain\ -ˈlān \;
underlying\ -ˈlī-iŋ \
Kids Definition of underlie
1
: to lie or be located under
A tile floor underlies the rug.
2
: to form the foundation of : support
What ideals underlie democracy?
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