Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use underling in a sentence

11 example sentences · noun

Underling means a subordinate, or person of lesser rank or authority. Example: “The sales team sought to talk to the movers and shakers within an organization, rather than to their underlings.”

Examples of underling by meaning

nounA subordinate, or person of lesser rank or authority.

  • His decision to stay at the compound in the face of possible assassination set an example, making it more difficult for his underlings to cut and run.2022 December 7, Simon Shuster, “2022 Person of the Year: Volodymyr Zelensky”, in Time, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2023
  • It would be read by more than 1,000 of his underlings at the company.2023 November 7, Rob Copeland, “‘Ray, This Is a Religion’”, in New York Magazine

More sentences with underling

  • The sales team sought to talk to the movers and shakers within an organization, rather than to their underlings.From the entry mover and shaker
  • Her underlings flanked her, like Padawans studying beneath some great Jedi.2017, Marnie Riches, Born Bad, London: Avon, →ISBN. From the entry padawan
  • Reflex laughs from the underlings present, though only grim smiles from the overlings.1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow. From the entry overling
  • Further, he should be kept from spending more time on his business than the codes allow his underlings.1934, The North American Review, North American Review Corporation, O. Everett, page 3. From the entry overconcentration
  • Professor Nickell and his lazy-eyed underlings had been seated in front of their screens and gizmotic panels, dully performing their routine, but as for Eve?2017, Stefan Merrill Block, Oliver Loving, →ISBN, page 127. From the entry gizmotic
  • And the system of total obedience to the Leader he was creating prevented his underlings in the ideological departments from reformulating it into a more intelligible form.2025, Fyodor Tertitskiy, Accidental Tyrant: The Life of Kim Il-sung, London: C. Hurst & Co., →ISBN, page 161. From the entry Juche
  • It is to gain respect from unknowing underlings, and to possess the image of power that can rule over those who are the fearful or timid nonchallengers of bureaucracy.1999, James H. Boren, How to be a Sincere Phoney, page 15. From the entry nonchallenger
  • Those underlings at the SIP and the sacrifices the Associated Press sent to The Man on the Corner know the meaning of losing weight in large bitesful.1981 May 24, John Eberline, “The Man on the Corner”, in South Idaho Press, volume 77, number 46, Burley, Ida., page 4. From the entry biteful
  • He had already demanded the attention of the manager, Professor Bulge, Draycott and two underlings to his case and they were now involved in a babel of inutile reiteration.1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados. From the entry inutile

Meaning of underling

  1. noun A subordinate, or person of lesser rank or authority.
  2. noun A low, wretched person.

Full definition of underling

Questions about underling in a sentence

How do you use underling in a sentence?
Underling is used as a noun. For example: “The sales team sought to talk to the movers and shakers within an organization, rather than to their underlings.”
What is a short sentence with underling?
“Her underlings flanked her, like Padawans studying beneath some great Jedi.”
What does underling mean?
Underling means a subordinate, or person of lesser rank or authority.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: underling (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use underling in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/underling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.