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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

underline.

A line placed underneath a piece of text in order to provide emphasis or to indicate that it should be viewed in italics or (in electronic documents) that it acts as a hyperlink.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈʌndɚˌlaɪn/General-American/ˈʌndəˌlaɪn/Received-Pronunciation/ˌʌndɚˈlaɪn//ˌʌndəˈlaɪn/
  1. A line placed underneath a piece of text in order to provide emphasis or to indicate that it should be viewed in italics or (in electronic documents) that it acts as a hyperlink.

  2. The character _.

    uncommon
  3. An announcement of a theatrical performance to follow, placed in an advertisement for the current one.

    dated
  4. A caption beneath a photograph (which may have more than one line of text).

    dated
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Indo-European *-tér Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér Proto-Indo-European *h₂én Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *-dʰi ? Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰí Proto-Indo-European *-ér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér Proto-Germanic *under Proto-West Germanic *undar Old English under- Middle English under- English under- English line English underline From under- + line.

verb/ˈʌndɚˌlaɪn/General-American/ˈʌndəˌlaɪn/Received-Pronunciation/ˌʌndɚˈlaɪn//ˌʌndəˈlaɪn/
  1. To draw a line underneath something, especially to add emphasis.

    underline the important words in the text
  2. To emphasise or stress something.

    figuratively
  3. To influence secretly.

    figuratively · obsolete
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Indo-European *-tér Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér Proto-Indo-European *h₂én Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *-dʰi ? Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰí Proto-Indo-European *-ér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér Proto-Germanic *under Proto-West Germanic *undar Old English under- Middle English under- English under- English line English underline From under- + line.

adj/ˈʌndɚˌlaɪn/General-American/ˈʌndəˌlaɪn/Received-Pronunciation/ˌʌndɚˈlaɪn//ˌʌndəˈlaɪn/
  1. Passing under a railway line.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Indo-European *-tér Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér Proto-Indo-European *h₂én Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *-dʰi ? Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰí Proto-Indo-European *-ér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér Proto-Germanic *under Proto-West Germanic *undar Old English under- Middle English under- English under- English line English underline From under- + line.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.