Word.ws English Dictionary

underscoring

underscoring is the present participle and gerund of underscore.

Meaning of underscore

Verb

underscore (third-person singular simple present underscores, present participle underscoring, simple past and past participle underscored)

  1. (transitive) To underline; to mark a line beneath text.
    • By convention, Rubyists usually underscore their method names.2011, Matt Aimonetti, MacRuby: The Definitive Guide: Ruby and Cocoa on OS X, page 14
  2. (transitive) To emphasize or draw attention to.
    • I wish to underscore the importance of proper formatting.

See all 4 meanings of underscore

Noun

underscoring (plural underscorings)

  1. An underline.
    • Parkington swung his chair away, keeping the book in his hand and his back to Anthony. “He underscored whole passages,” he said. “I can't abide reading a book with underscorings in it.”2002, Jane Toombs, Nightingale Man, page 62

Forms of underscoring

pluralunderscorings

Questions about underscoring

What does underscoring mean?
Underscoring means an underline.
What is underscoring the present participle and gerund of?
Underscoring is the present participle and gerund of underscore.
What part of speech is underscoring?
Underscoring is a noun.
What is the plural of underscoring?
The plural of underscoring is underscorings.

Words near underscoring in the dictionary

  1. underscore
  2. underscored
  3. underscorer
  4. underscorers
  5. underscores
  6. underscoring
  7. underscorings
  8. underscreened
  9. underscreening
  10. underscribe
  11. underscribes

Source and license

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