Word.ws English Dictionary

underwise

underwise adverb: on or to the bottom or underside of; beneath; underneath.

Adverb

underwise (not comparable)

  1. On or to the bottom or underside of; beneath; underneath.
    • […] next stuff the skin of the leg of mutton, sew it underwise, wrap the whole in a cloth, and braize it […]1822, Louis Eustache Ude, The French cook
    • In forming double volute springs, plates of sheet steel are employed. These are heated and are then introduced underwise, one at a time, beneath the mandrel B upon the support I, until the central part of the plate is beneath the mandrel.1858, United States Congress, Congressional edition
  2. Below; hereafter.
    • Then as how to continue the quotations self-praise, and description of matters as hardly never occured^([sic]) or transpirated, follows underwise: […]1866, “A New View of an Old Riot”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round
    • Unless underwise provided by this law, decisions shall be given by a majority of votes of the members present, other than the President.1924, League of Nations, Official journal

Noun

underwise (plural not attested)

  1. (no plural) Underside.
    • [...] but a certain amount of clearance is allowed in all the clips to enable the pipes to expand and contract freely according to their temperature, or to accommodate themselves to any underwise movement.1905, Cornelius McLeod Percy, Frank Percy, George H. Winstanley, The mechanical equipment of collieries
    • The same firm, in a suction dredger built specially for the Rangoon port improvements, fit very powerful water jets on the underwise of the suction nozzle to disturb the hard, sandy bottom.1909, Cassier's Magazine

Adjective

underwise (comparative more underwise, superlative most underwise)

  1. Lacking adequate or sufficient wisdom; insufficiently wise.
    • Let us, therefore, be neither overwise nor underwise, neither hasty nor tardy, but liberal, tolerant, and full of hope.1847, The herald of truth
    • Some underwise people, ministers even affect to despise the knowledge that comes through books, and pretend to draw all their inspirations from the incidents and associations of common life; […]1877, Washington Gladden, The Christian way: whither it leads and how to go on

Forms of underwise

comparativemore underwise
superlativemost underwise

Origin of underwise

From under + -wise.

From under- + wise.

Questions about underwise

What does underwise mean?
Underwise means on or to the bottom or underside of; beneath; underneath.
What part of speech is underwise?
Underwise can be an adverb, a noun or an adjective.

Words near underwise in the dictionary

  1. underwings
  2. underwire
  3. underwired
  4. underwires
  5. underwiring
  6. underwise
  7. underwit
  8. underwithheld
  9. underwithhold
  10. underwithholding
  11. underwithholds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: underwise (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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