Word.ws English Dictionary

underlye

underlye is the obsolete form of underlie.

Meaning of underlie

Verb

underlie (third-person singular simple present underlies, present participle underlying, simple past underlay, past participle underlain)

  1. (intransitive) To lie in a position directly beneath something.
  2. (transitive) To lie under or beneath.
    • A stratum of clay underlies the surface gravel.
  3. (transitive) To serve as a basis of; form the foundation of.
    • a doctrine underlying a theory
    Synonyms:
    underpin
  4. (transitive) To be subject to; be liable to answer, as a charge or challenge.
    • The knight of Ivanhoe […] underlies the challenge of Brian der Bois Guilbert.1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co....
  5. To underlay.

Forms of underlye

third-person singular presentunderlyes
present participleunderlying
pastunderlay
past participleunderlain

Questions about underlye

What is underlye the obsolete form of?
Underlye is the obsolete form of underlie.

Words near underlye in the dictionary

  1. underlug
  2. underlugs
  3. underluminosity
  4. underluminous
  5. underly
  6. underlye
  7. underlyes
  8. underlying
  9. underlying form
  10. underlying forms
  11. underlying functor

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: underlye (page history and authors); underlie (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: “underlye.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/underlye. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.