Word.ws English Dictionary

underachieve

/ˌʌndə(ɹ)əˈt͡ʃiːv/

underachieve verb: to achieve less than expected; to fail to fulfil one's potential.

Verb

underachieve (third-person singular simple present underachieves, present participle underachieving, simple past and past participle underachieved)

  1. To achieve less than expected; to fail to fulfil one's potential.
    Synonyms:
    punch below one's weight, underperform, underattain

Synonyms of underachieve

Forms of underachieve

third-person singular presentunderachieves
present participleunderachieving
past participleunderachieved
pastunderachieved

Origin of underachieve

From under- + achieve.

Words formed from underachieve

Questions about underachieve

What does underachieve mean?
Underachieve means to achieve less than expected; to fail to fulfil one's potential.
What part of speech is underachieve?
Underachieve is a verb.
How do you pronounce underachieve?
Underachieve is pronounced /ˌʌndə(ɹ)əˈt͡ʃiːv/.
What is the past tense of underachieve?
The past tense of underachieve is underachieved.

Words near underachieve in the dictionary

  1. underaccommodative
  2. underaccomplished
  3. underacetylated
  4. underacetylation
  5. underacetylations
  6. underachieve
  7. underachieved
  8. underachievement
  9. underachievements
  10. underachiever
  11. underachievers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: underachieve (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-underachieve.wav.

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