Library / English Dictionary

UNDERLIE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: underlain    , underlay    , underlying   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be or form the base for

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "underlie" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lie underneath

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "underlie" is one way to...):

lie (be located or situated somewhere; occupy a certain position)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

The mechanisms underlying the therapy hint at new approaches to treat inflammatory disorders.

(Electroacupuncture Reduces Sepsis in Mice, NIH)

They are symptoms of an underlying disease or condition and not a specific illness.

(Nausea and Vomiting, NCI Thesaurus)

They designed their study to map and compare biological networks underlying Alzheimer’s disease.

(Viruses may play a role in Alzheimer’s disease, National Institutes of Health)

Prognosis is variable depending on the effective treatment of the underlying neoplasm.

(Paraneoplastic syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

Until now, scientists did not know when the retreat of Pine Island Glacier started, or its underlying cause.

(West Antarctica's largest glacier may have started retreating as early as the 1940s, NSF)

Underlying such impaired neuronal growth and function, the researchers discovered that the mutant SETD1A gene disrupted regulation of many other genes with which it is networked.

(Schizophrenia risk gene linked to cognitive deficits in mice, National Institutes of Health)

It is the underlying principle of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

(Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, NCI Thesaurus)

This allele, which encodes phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit beta isoform protein, plays a role in signaling pathways underlying the regulation of apoptosis, cell growth, and angiogenesis.

(PIK3CB wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

Others get better when an underlying disease is treated.

(Movement Disorders, NIH)

And all this affected her as a very noble state of consciousness; nor did she dream that behind it and underlying it were the jealousy and desire of love.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)