nether
UK/nɛð.ə//nɛð.ɚ/
nether adjective: lower; under. Also the alternative letter-case form of the Nether.
Adjective
nether (comparative (rare) nethermore, superlative nethermost)
- Lower; under.
- The disappointed child’s nether lip quivered.
- And yet another marvel, the nether side of the canopy over the high seats was encrusted with lapis lazuli, and in that feigned dome of heaven burned the twelve signs of the zodiac, every star a diamond that shone with its own light.1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 3
- Lying beneath, or conceived as lying beneath, the Earth’s surface.
- the nether regions
- When one thinks of the tremendous forces of the upper and the nether world which play for the mastery of the soul of a woman during the few years in which she passes from plastic girlhood to the ripe maturity of womanhood,1873, Mark Twain, The Gilded Age, page 187
- Synonyms:
- subsurface, subterranean
Adverb
nether (comparative more nether, superlative most nether)
Verb
nether (third-person singular simple present nethers, present participle nethering, simple past and past participle nethered)
- To bring or thrust down; bring or make low; lower; abase; humble.
- To constrict; straiten; confine; restrict; suppress; lay low; keep under; press in upon; vex; harass; oppress.
- To pinch or stunt with cold or hunger; check in growth; shrivel; straiten.
- To shrink or huddle, as with cold; be shivery; tremble.
- To depreciate; disparage; undervalue.
Noun
nether (plural nethers)
- Oppression; stress; a withering or stunting influence.
- A trouble; a fault or dislocation in a seam of coal.
Proper noun capitalized: Nether
the Nether
Also used as
nether is also the alternative letter-case form of the Nether.
Examples of nether in a sentence
- If we look to the nether reaches of the list, we find some anomalies.
- But her main concern is the hard seating that numbs the nether regions.
- At the movies, the nethers have become unnestled, and not just in art films.
Synonyms of nether
Forms of nether
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| superlative | nethermost |
| comparative (rare) | nethermore |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more nether |
| superlative | most nether |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | nethers |
| present participle | nethering |
| past participle | nethered |
| past | nethered |
| alternative form | nither |
| Noun | |
| plural | nethers |
Origin of nether
From Middle English nether, nethere, nithere, from Old English niþera (“lower, under, lowest”, adjective), from niþer, niþor (“below, beneath, down, downwards, lower, in an inferior position”, adverb), from Proto-West Germanic *niþer, from Proto-Germanic *niþer, *niþra (“down”), from Proto-Indo-European *ni-, *nei- (“in, down”). Cognates include Dutch neder, German nieder, Luxembourgish nidder, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish ned (“down”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish nedre (“lower”), Faroese and Icelandic niður.
Alteration of earlier nither, from Middle English nitheren, from Old English niþerian (“to depress, abase, bring low, humiliate, oppress, accuse, condemn”), from niþer (“below, beneath, down, downwards, lower, in an inferior position”). See above.
From nether (“lying beneath”).
Words formed from nether
- Nether highway
- netherite
- hard as the nether millstone
- Hartington Nether Quarter
- Nether Alderley
- Nether Broughton
- nether cheek
- Nether Denton
- netherdom
- Netherexe
- Nether Exe
- nether-hair
- nether hair
- Nether Heyford
- netherhood
- Nether Kellet
- Netherland
- Netherlands
- nethermore
- nethermost
- netherness
- Nether Padley
- Nether Peover
- Nether Poppleton
- Nether Providence
- nether region
- Nether-Saxon
- nether-shirt
- Nether Staveley
- nether thought
- Nethertown
- netherverse
- Nether Wallop
- netherward
- netherwards
- Nether Whitacre
- nether world
- netherworld
- Nether Wyresdale
- nethering
Phrases with nether
Words that rhyme with nether
Questions about nether
- What does nether mean?
- Nether means lower; under.
- What part of speech is nether?
- Nether can be an adjective, an adverb, a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce nether?
- Nether is pronounced /nɛð.ə/ (UK).
Words near nether in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nether (page history and authors); Nether (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-nether.ogg.
Cite this entry: “nether.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nether. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.