Word.ws English Dictionary

underkeep

underkeep verb: to keep under or in subjection; subdue; suppress.

Verb

underkeep (third-person singular simple present underkeeps, present participle underkeeping, simple past and past participle underkept)

  1. (transitive) To keep under or in subjection; subdue; suppress.
    • Like as a fire, the which in hollow caue / Hath long bene vnderkept, and downe supprest, / With murmurous disdaine doth inly raue […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
    • It is not economy to overwork or underkeep, or in any wise neglect the farm horse?1865, The farmer's magazine, page 276
  2. (transitive) To keep or maintain inadequately or below standard.
    • Compared to Colva and Benaulim, Palolem 's accommodations are overpriced and underkept — expect to pay Rs200 in season for the privilege of crashing in a charmless double and using a common bathroom outside.2004, Let's go: India & Nepal, 2004 - Page 191, Let's Go, Inc
    • Most houses on Oakland Ave. have large basements that are underkept.2011, Marie Puissant, University of Wisconsin off the record

Noun

underkeep (plural underkeeps)

  1. An underground reserve.
    • The earth was swallowing Abascar. "The Underkeeps caved in."2007, Jeffrey Overstreet, Auralia's Colors
  2. A keep or storage space located beneath the foundation of a structure; cellar.
    • [...] located in the bottom of the driving-box cellars (underkeeps), a perforated plate being used between the axle and the cake of grease.1907, Léonard Archbutt, Richard Mountford Deeley, Lubrication and lubricants
  3. Any storage space or reservoir placed below another object.
    • They have sliding underkeeps of ample oil capacity with pad lubrication and the underkeeps are supplied with oil direct from a mechanical lubricator.1951, Railway gazette international, volume 94
  4. An underkeeper, guardian, or custodian.
    • [...] rooms taken up by Mr. Newton one of his Maᵗˢ Gent ushers for the placing of the Kings Maᵗˢ wardrobe stuffe for the space of three weeks at Newmarkett To Robert Ford underkeep of his Maᵗˢ House at Newmarkett in considracon of the want [...]1886, John Philip Hore, The history of Newmarket

Forms of underkeep

Verb
third-person singular presentunderkeeps
present participleunderkeeping
past participleunderkept
pastunderkept
Noun
pluralunderkeeps

Origin of underkeep

From under- + keep.

Words formed from underkeep

Questions about underkeep

What does underkeep mean?
Underkeep means to keep under or in subjection; subdue; suppress.
What part of speech is underkeep?
Underkeep can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of underkeep?
The past tense of underkeep is underkept.

Words near underkeep in the dictionary

  1. underjoyed
  2. underjudge
  3. underjungle
  4. underjungles
  5. underkecks
  6. underkeep
  7. underkeeper
  8. underkeepers
  9. underkeeping
  10. underkeeps
  11. underkept

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: underkeep (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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Cite this entry: “underkeep.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/underkeep. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.