underearn
underearn verb: to earn less than.
Verb
underearn (third-person singular simple present underearns, present participle underearning, simple past and past participle underearned)
- To earn less than.
- “They have a dominant retail position in a high-service business, yet significantly underearn other high-service-oriented retail segments,” Mr. Balter wrote in a research note after Guitar Center made its announcement.2007 June 28, Reuters, “Equity Firm Is Acquiring Guitar Center”, in New York Times
- To earn less than might be expected.
- Those who underearn should avoid overspending.
Forms of underearn
| third-person singular present | underearns |
|---|---|
| present participle | underearning |
| past participle | underearned |
| past | underearned |
Origin of underearn
From under- + earn.
Words formed from underearn
Questions about underearn
- What does underearn mean?
- Underearn means to earn less than.
- What part of speech is underearn?
- Underearn is a verb.
- What is the past tense of underearn?
- The past tense of underearn is underearned.
Words near underearn in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: underearn (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-underearn.wav.
Cite this entry: “underearn.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/underearn. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.