English

Proper noun

Underground

1. (Britain, rail transport) The London Underground.

Synonyms

• Tube

English

Adjective

underground ‎(comparative more underground, superlative most underground)

1. (not comparable) Below the ground; below the surface of the Earth.

   There is an underground tunnel that takes you across the river.‎

   • 2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891:

     One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.

2. Hidden, furtive, secretive.

   These criminals operate through an underground network.‎

3. Of music, art, etc, outside the mainstream.

Synonyms

• (below the ground): subterranean
• (hidden): clandestine, hidden, hush-hush, secret
• (outside the mainstream): avant-garde, unconventional

Translations

Adverb

underground ‎(comparative more underground, superlative most underground)

1. Below the ground.

   The tunnel goes underground at this point.

2. Secretly.

Synonyms

• (below the ground): below ground
• (secretly): clandestinely, in secret, on the quiet

Translations

Noun

underground ‎(plural undergrounds)

1. (chiefly Britain) An underground railway.
2. (with "the") A movement or organisation of people who resist political convention.
3. (with "the") A movement or organisation of people who resist artistic convention.

Synonyms

• (underground railway): metro, métro (the underground railway of Paris), subway (US), Tube (British - the underground railway of London)
• (movement or organisation of people who resist political convention): resistance
• (movement or organisation of people who resist artistic convention): avant-garde, counter-culture

Translations

Verb

underground ‎(third-person singular simple present undergrounds, present participle undergrounding, simple past and past participle undergrounded)

1. To route electricity distribution cables underground
   • 1962, David Pesonen, “Battles Over Energy”, in Carolyn Merchant, editor, Green Versus Gold: Sources in California's Environmental History, Island Press, published 1998, ISBN 9781559635806, page 325:

     One is to underground where no other alternative will work, and this method should be used universally in urban regions as it now is in “downtown” sections.

   • 2004, Don L. Ivey and C. Paul Scott, “Solutions”, in Transportation Research Board Committee on Utilities, editor, Utilities and Roadside Safety, State of the Art Report 9, Transportation Research Board, ISBN 9780309094511, page 9:

     Also, undergrounding may not eliminate the potential for crashes with other roadside objects, such as trees, walls, buildings, and so forth. [...] When looking at the fesibility of undergrounding utilities, the complete roadside area and nearby adjacent properties should be evaluated for potential roadside obstructions or hazards.

   • 2006, Janes Northcote-Green, Robert Wilson, “Design, Construction and Operation of Distribution Systems, MV Networks”, in Control and Automation of Electrical Power Distribution Systems, CRC Press, ISBN 9780824726317, page 110:

     The utility now wants the network to be undergrounded in the urban areas, which would mean substations with 33 kV distribution swtichgear.

Translations

See also

• underground railway
• go underground

Finnish

Etymology

English underground

Noun

underground

1. underground (culture)

Declension

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /œ̃.dɛʁ.ɡʁawnd/

Adjective

underground m, f ‎(invariable)

1. underground (outside the mainstream)

Noun

underground m ‎(uncountable)

1. (singular only) the underground (people who resist artistic convention)

Italian

Noun

l'underground m ‎(invariable)

1. the underground (people who resist artistic convention)

Spanish

Noun

underground m ‎(plural undergrounds)

1. underground (movement)