undercurrent
Syllables: un·der·cur·rentUK/ˈʌndəkʌɹ(ə)nt//ˈʌndɚˌkʌɹənt/
undercurrent noun: a current of water which flows under the surface, and often in a different direction from surface currents.
Noun
undercurrent (plural undercurrents)
- A current of water which flows under the surface, and often in a different direction from surface currents.
- For that an undercurrent (which ſome have beleived,) in the ſtraights-mouth, will not ſolve this difficulty, unleſs occaſioned by a vaſt Gulf that muſt be placed ſomewhere in the Atlantic near the Mouth of the ſtraight, which though overflown and hidden by that mighty ſea, yet may poſſibly abſorb...1684–1685 January 28, “De ORIGINE FONTIUM Tentamen Philosophicum, in Prælectione habita coram Societate Philosophica nuper Oxoniæ instituta ad Scientiam Naturalem promovendam. Per Rob. Plot LL.D....
- [W]e have a surface current of saltish water from the poles towards the equator, and an undercurrent of water, saltier and heavier, from the equator to the poles. This undercurrent supplies in a great measure the salt which the upper current, freighted with fresh water from the clouds and rivers...1854 January, M[atthew] F[ontaine] Maury, “[On the Saltiness of the Sea]”, in Explanations and Sailing Directions to Accompany the Wind and Current Charts, […], 6th enlarged and improved edition...
- A tendency of feeling or opinion that is concealed rather than exposed.
- The meeting was pervaded with an undercurrent of dread, as the managers tried not to admit that firings were looming.
- All the while there was a busy undercurrent in her, like the thought of a man who keeps up a dialogue while he is considering how he can slip away.1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXVI, in Daniel Deronda, volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book III (Maidens Choosing), page 166
- Synonyms:
- subcurrent, subtext
Verb
undercurrent (third-person singular simple present undercurrents, present participle undercurrenting, simple past and past participle undercurrented)
- To flow under some surface.
- The latter are stoically steady, impervious to the nervousness that still continues to undercurrent the Stock Exchange generally, despite an all-round rally.1905, The Electrical Review, volume 56, London: H. Alabaster, Gatehouse & Company, →OCLC, page 154
- Her lips hardly moving, every feature steady, she undercurrented my narrative with ejaculations in French, Russian, Italian.1927, The Atlantic Monthly. A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume 139, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, […], →OCLC, page 627, column 2
undercurrent meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
undercurrent in Tamil
- குறை மின்னோட்டம், மீன்வளம் அடிநீரோட்டம், உட்குறிப்பான, உள்நோக்கமான
undercurrent in Urdu
- خفیہ چال, زیر آب دھارا, رو
undercurrent in Malayalam
- അടിയൊഴുക്ക്, ഗൂഢാഭിപ്രായം, ഉൾപ്രവാഹം
undercurrent in Kannada
- ಒಳ ಹರಿವು, ಅಂತಃಪ್ರವಾಹ, ಪ್ರಚ್ಛನ್ನ ಪ್ರವಾಹ, ಒಳಹರಿವು, ಚಿಂತನಕ್ರಮ, ಮೇಲೆ ಕಾಣದ ಪ್ರವೃತ್ತಿ
Examples of undercurrent in a sentence
- [W]e have a surface current of saltish water from the poles towards the equator, and an undercurrent of water, saltier and heavier, from the equator to the poles.1854 January, M[atthew] F[ontaine] Maury, “[On the Saltiness of the Sea]”, in Explanations and Sailing Directions to Accompany the Wind and...
- Part detective story, part gangster, part urban melodrama, Film Noir was identified best by its dark and pessimistic undercurrents.1977, James Monaco, “The Shape of Film History”, in How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History, and Theory of Film and...
- Although the crowd was predominantly red-and-white, there was also a Romanian flavour, which these days in football terms tends to mean there is at least an undercurrent of discontent.2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao’s Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in The Guardian, London, archived from...
- The emotions undercurrenting the command left her with no doubt that he planned to do as he said.1996, Jane Lindskold, Smoke and Mirrors, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN:
Synonyms of undercurrent
Forms of undercurrent
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | undercurrents |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | undercurrents |
| present participle | undercurrenting |
| past participle | undercurrented |
| past | undercurrented |
Origin of undercurrent
From under- + current.
Questions about undercurrent
- What does undercurrent mean?
- Undercurrent means a current of water which flows under the surface, and often in a different direction from surface currents.
- What is undercurrent in Tamil?
- Undercurrent in Tamil is குறை மின்னோட்டம், மீன்வளம் அடிநீரோட்டம், உட்குறிப்பான. See Undercurrent meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use undercurrent in a sentence?
- [W]e have a surface current of saltish water from the poles towards the equator, and an undercurrent of water, saltier and heavier, from the equator to the poles.
- What part of speech is undercurrent?
- Undercurrent can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce undercurrent?
- Undercurrent is pronounced /ˈʌndəkʌɹ(ə)nt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of undercurrent?
- The plural of undercurrent is undercurrents.
Words near undercurrent in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: undercurrent (page history and authors); undercurrent (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); undercurrent (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); undercurrent (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); undercurrent (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: en-us-undercurrent.flac, en-au-undercurrent.ogg.
Cite this entry: “undercurrent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/undercurrent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.