Underlie
verb
To be the basis or cause of something.
The fundamental principles underlie all of our teaching methods.
Often appears as...
- underlie principles
- underlie methods
verb
To be beneath something.
A layer of rock underlies the soil.
Often appears as...
- underlie layer
- underlie structure
verb
To form the foundation or starting point for something.
Mutual trust must underlie successful teamwork.
Often appears as...
- underlie teamwork
- underlie relationship
verb
To be the basis or cause of something.
The fundamental principles underlie all of our teaching methods.
Often appears as...
- underlie principles
- underlie methods
verb
To be beneath something.
A layer of rock underlies the soil.
Often appears as...
- underlie layer
- underlie structure
verb
To form the foundation or starting point for something.
Mutual trust must underlie successful teamwork.
Often appears as...
- underlie teamwork
- underlie relationship
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Cause and Effect
Use 'underlie' to connect a basic cause with its complex effect.
The desire for freedom underlies many historical revolutions.
Pro Tip 2/3Abstract Foundations
'Underlie' often refers to abstract foundations, like principles or concepts.
Ethical considerations underlie the new policy.
Pro Tip 3/3Implicit Presence
What 'underlies' is not always immediately visible but is present throughout.
Careful planning underlies the event's success.
Pro Tip 1/3Cause and Effect
Use 'underlie' to connect a basic cause with its complex effect.
The desire for freedom underlies many historical revolutions.
Pro Tip 2/3Abstract Foundations
'Underlie' often refers to abstract foundations, like principles or concepts.
Ethical considerations underlie the new policy.
Pro Tip 3/3Implicit Presence
What 'underlies' is not always immediately visible but is present throughout.
Careful planning underlies the event's success.
Pro Tip 1/3Cause and Effect
Use 'underlie' to connect a basic cause with its complex effect.
The desire for freedom underlies many historical revolutions.
Pro Tip 2/3Abstract Foundations
'Underlie' often refers to abstract foundations, like principles or concepts.
Ethical considerations underlie the new policy.
Pro Tip 3/3Implicit Presence
What 'underlies' is not always immediately visible but is present throughout.
Careful planning underlies the event's success.
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Video examples
What makes tattoos...
But if tattoos are embedded in your skin for life, is there any way to erase them? Technically, yes. Today, a laser is used to penetrate the epidermis and blast apart underlying pigment colors of various wavelengths, black being the easiest to target. The laser beam breaks the ink globules into smaller particles
Video examples
How to stay calm when...
The number should be one. My doctor wouldn't prescribe something to me if it's not going to help. But actually, medical practice doesn't work that way. And it's not the doctor's fault, if it's anybody's fault, it's the fault of scientists like me. We haven't figured out the underlying mechanisms well enough.
Video examples
Making waves: The power...
can get a current going. And that is the starting point of the global conveyor called thermohaline circulation. This is how a simple concept becomes the mechanism underlying one of the largest and most important systems on our planet. And if you look around, you'll see it happening everywhere.
Video examples
John Graham-Cumming: The...
or computer or any other computing device is mathematics. It's all numbers at the bottom. Whether it's video or text or music or voice, it's all numbers, it's all, underlying it, mathematical functions happening, and Lovelace said, "Just because you're doing mathematical functions and symbols
Video examples
Stopping Pandemics, An...
of any bad outcome than elderly individuals and those with underlying conditions however we're starting to see more and more that young people even otherwise well young people can get into serious trouble and even may have some long-term residual effects but but accepting the
Video examples
The complex geometry of...
There's another secret ingredient in these an underlying grid. Invisible, but essential to every pattern, the grid helps determine the scale of the composition before work begins, keeps the pattern accurate, and facilitates the invention of incredible new patterns.
Video examples
How data can predict the...
a way to separate things that are specific to a particular flu outbreak from the underlying principles that drive all these epidemics this is what my research aims to do for example it's likely that social interactions are important in spreading flu during the
Video examples
What causes economic...
Today, scholars work long and hard trying to predict what causes a bubble and how to avoid them. Tulip mania is an effective illustration of the underlying principles at work in a bubble and can help us understand more recent examples
Video examples
How to recognize a...
imagining a world where certain trends in contemporary society are taken to extremes, exposing their underlying flaws. And the next few centuries would provide plenty of material. Industrial technology that promised to free laborers
Video examples
New bionics let us run,...
when you need it, for optimal support and flexibility, without ever causing discomfort. My bionic limbs are attached to my biological body via synthetic skins with stiffness variations, that mirror my underlying tissue biomechanics.
Video examples
What makes tattoos...
But if tattoos are embedded in your skin for life, is there any way to erase them? Technically, yes. Today, a laser is used to penetrate the epidermis and blast apart underlying pigment colors of various wavelengths, black being the easiest to target. The laser beam breaks the ink globules into smaller particles
Video examples
How to stay calm when...
The number should be one. My doctor wouldn't prescribe something to me if it's not going to help. But actually, medical practice doesn't work that way. And it's not the doctor's fault, if it's anybody's fault, it's the fault of scientists like me. We haven't figured out the underlying mechanisms well enough.
Video examples
Making waves: The power...
can get a current going. And that is the starting point of the global conveyor called thermohaline circulation. This is how a simple concept becomes the mechanism underlying one of the largest and most important systems on our planet. And if you look around, you'll see it happening everywhere.
Video examples
John Graham-Cumming: The...
or computer or any other computing device is mathematics. It's all numbers at the bottom. Whether it's video or text or music or voice, it's all numbers, it's all, underlying it, mathematical functions happening, and Lovelace said, "Just because you're doing mathematical functions and symbols
Video examples
Stopping Pandemics, An...
of any bad outcome than elderly individuals and those with underlying conditions however we're starting to see more and more that young people even otherwise well young people can get into serious trouble and even may have some long-term residual effects but but accepting the
Video examples
The complex geometry of...
There's another secret ingredient in these an underlying grid. Invisible, but essential to every pattern, the grid helps determine the scale of the composition before work begins, keeps the pattern accurate, and facilitates the invention of incredible new patterns.
Video examples
How data can predict the...
a way to separate things that are specific to a particular flu outbreak from the underlying principles that drive all these epidemics this is what my research aims to do for example it's likely that social interactions are important in spreading flu during the
Video examples
What causes economic...
Today, scholars work long and hard trying to predict what causes a bubble and how to avoid them. Tulip mania is an effective illustration of the underlying principles at work in a bubble and can help us understand more recent examples
Video examples
How to recognize a...
imagining a world where certain trends in contemporary society are taken to extremes, exposing their underlying flaws. And the next few centuries would provide plenty of material. Industrial technology that promised to free laborers
Video examples
New bionics let us run,...
when you need it, for optimal support and flexibility, without ever causing discomfort. My bionic limbs are attached to my biological body via synthetic skins with stiffness variations, that mirror my underlying tissue biomechanics.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Karen Armstrong
English Writer
But human beings fall easily into despair, and from the very beginning we invented stories that enabled us to place our lives in a larger setting, that revealed an underlying pattern, and gave us a sense that, against all the depressing and chaotic evidence to the contrary, life had meaning and value.
Quote examples
Glennon Doyle Melton
American Author
Often, we need to ignore the words people say and attend to their underlying, urgent, life or death questions: Am I valuable? Am I loved? The great thing is that the answer is easy: Yes! The answer is always yes. We don't have to think too hard.
Quote examples
Paul Hirsch
German Politician
When I started out, I preferred to watch my films without music, as its presence tends to mask the underlying pace of the film. I felt I could feel the rhythm of the film better without music to influence me.
Quote examples
Hu Jintao
Chinese Statesman
The world economy today is recovering slowly, and there are still some destabilising factors and uncertainties. The underlying impact of the international financial crisis is far from over.
Quote examples
Alan Watts
English Philosopher
The myths underlying our culture and underlying our common sense have not taught us to feel identical with the universe, but only parts of it, only in it, only confronting it - aliens.
Quote examples
Paolo Bacigalupi
American Writer
I think that we live in a highly specialized, technologically advanced society. Highly developed societies tend to have very remote understandings about what underlies our prosperity.
Quote examples
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Indian Leader
Our country has often stood like a solid rock in the face of common danger, and there is a deep underlying unity which runs like a golden thread through all our seeming diversity.
Quote examples
Ken Starr
American Lawyer
The whole idea of equal justice under law means that you've got to play by the rules. It has nothing to do with the underlying subject matter. You just tell the truth.
Quote examples
Jeff Hawkins
American Inventor
If you look at the history of big obstacles in understanding our world, there's usually an intuitive assumption underlying them that's wrong.
Quote examples
John McDonnell
British Politician
Tightening up border and immigration controls go nowhere in addressing the underlying causes of terrorism in our society and in our world.
Quote examples
Karen Armstrong
English Writer
But human beings fall easily into despair, and from the very beginning we invented stories that enabled us to place our lives in a larger setting, that revealed an underlying pattern, and gave us a sense that, against all the depressing and chaotic evidence to the contrary, life had meaning and value.
Quote examples
Glennon Doyle Melton
American Author
Often, we need to ignore the words people say and attend to their underlying, urgent, life or death questions: Am I valuable? Am I loved? The great thing is that the answer is easy: Yes! The answer is always yes. We don't have to think too hard.
Quote examples
Paul Hirsch
German Politician
When I started out, I preferred to watch my films without music, as its presence tends to mask the underlying pace of the film. I felt I could feel the rhythm of the film better without music to influence me.
Quote examples
Hu Jintao
Chinese Statesman
The world economy today is recovering slowly, and there are still some destabilising factors and uncertainties. The underlying impact of the international financial crisis is far from over.
Quote examples
Alan Watts
English Philosopher
The myths underlying our culture and underlying our common sense have not taught us to feel identical with the universe, but only parts of it, only in it, only confronting it - aliens.
Quote examples
Paolo Bacigalupi
American Writer
I think that we live in a highly specialized, technologically advanced society. Highly developed societies tend to have very remote understandings about what underlies our prosperity.
Quote examples
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Indian Leader
Our country has often stood like a solid rock in the face of common danger, and there is a deep underlying unity which runs like a golden thread through all our seeming diversity.
Quote examples
Ken Starr
American Lawyer
The whole idea of equal justice under law means that you've got to play by the rules. It has nothing to do with the underlying subject matter. You just tell the truth.
Quote examples
Jeff Hawkins
American Inventor
If you look at the history of big obstacles in understanding our world, there's usually an intuitive assumption underlying them that's wrong.
Quote examples
John McDonnell
British Politician
Tightening up border and immigration controls go nowhere in addressing the underlying causes of terrorism in our society and in our world.
Example 1 of 10
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