# underground

Pronunciation: US say "un-dur-GROWND" /ˌʌndɚˈɡɹaʊnd/; UK say "un-duh-GROWND" /ˌʌndəˈɡɹaʊnd/

## Adjective

1. Located below the ground or beneath the surface of the Earth.
   - Simple: Found or placed below the surface of the ground.
   - _The city built an underground parking structure beneath the plaza._
   - _Engineers traced the underground pipes that carry water to the suburbs._
4. Hidden, secretive, or carried out in a furtive way to avoid notice.
   - Simple: Kept hidden and done in secret, away from public notice.
   - _An underground campaign spread the banned pamphlets from town to town._
   - _The journalists relied on an underground contact inside the ministry._
7. Associated with activities beyond the mainstream, often conducted unofficially and kept secret from the authorities.
   - Simple: Outside the popular trends, often unofficial and hidden from those in charge.
   - _The city's underground gallery showed work the official museums refused._
   - _An underground theater troupe staged plays the censors had banned._

## Adverb

2. In or into a position below the surface of the ground.
   - Simple: In or to a place below the surface of the ground.
   - _The cables run underground for several miles before surfacing at the station._
   - _Rabbits burrow underground to escape predators and the cold._
5. In a secret manner, without being known to the public or the authorities.
   - Simple: In a secret or hidden way, out of public view.
   - _After the ban, the union continued to meet underground._
   - _The smugglers moved underground, passing goods through trusted hands only._

## Noun

3. The regions beneath the earth's surface, both natural ones such as caves and man-made ones such as mines.
   - Simple: The area below the surface of the earth, including natural caves and man-made mines.
   - _Water seeping through the underground slowly carves out vast caverns._
   - _Centuries of digging extended the underground into a maze of shafts and tunnels._
6. A movement or organization of people who resist accepted political authority or convention.
   - Simple: A secret group of people who fight against the official government or its rules.
   - _Members of the underground passed coded messages between cities._
   - _The exiled leader had once helped found the underground that toppled the regime._
8. A city railway that runs in tunnels beneath the streets, the British name for what Americans call a subway. *(British)*
   - Simple: A city railway that runs in tunnels under the streets, called the subway in America.
   - _Londoners rely on the underground to cross the city each day._
   - _A signal fault on the underground left commuters stranded for an hour._
9. A group or movement of artists united by resistance to accepted styles and traditions.
   - Simple: A group of artists who break away from accepted styles and traditions.
   - _The underground championed films that the major studios would never finance._
   - _Out of a small poetry underground came a whole new literary style._

## Verb

10. To place electricity distribution cables below the surface rather than on overhead lines.
   - Simple: To put electric power cables below the ground instead of on poles.
   - _The city plans to underground the wiring along the main avenue._
   - _Engineers chose to underground the feeders to keep them clear of falling branches._

## Origin

From Middle English undergrounde (an adverb), formed from under and ground, similar to Dutch ondergrond and German Untergrund.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/underground (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).