undermine

English

Etymology

From under- +‎ mine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌndəˈmaɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪn

Verb

1. To dig underneath (something), to make a passage for destructive or military purposes; to sap. [from 14th c.]
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 312:

     Martin, for instance, had on one occasion undermined a tree sacred to old gods, then stood in the path of its fall, but forced it to fall elsewhere by making the sign of the Cross.

2. (figuratively) To weaken or work against; to hinder, sabotage. [from 15th c.]
   • 2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian:

     The growing use of social media to spread anger and dissent in the Arab world has been hailed by western governments as one of the chief justifications for a completely unfettered internet. The US is reportedly funding the secret rollout of technology in Iran in an effort to undermine internet censors in the country.

   The war efforts were undermined by the constant bickering between the allies.

Antonyms

• undergird

Translations

hinder, sabotage

• Catalan: soscavar (ca), minar (ca)
• Czech: podkopávat
• Danish: undergrave, underminere
• Dutch: ondermijnen (nl), ontwrichten (nl), ondergraven (nl)
• Esperanto: subfosi
• Finnish: heikentää (fi), sabotoida (fi)
• French: saper (fr)
• German: unterminieren (de), schwächen (de), untergraben (de)
• Greek: υπονομεύω (el) (yponomévo)
• Hebrew: חתר תחת (ḥatar taḥat)
• Hiligaynon: áb-ab
• Hungarian: aláaknáz (hu), aláás (hu)
• Latin: surruō
• Maori: whakararu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: underminere, undergrave

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Persian: تضعیف کردن (fa) (taz'if kardan)
• Portuguese: solapar (pt), sabotar (pt)
• Romanian: surpa (ro), submina (ro), săpa (ro)
• Russian: подрыва́ть (ru) impf (podryvátʹ), подорва́ть (ru) pf (podorvátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: поткопати, поткопавати

  Roman: potkopati (sh), potkopavati (sh)

• Slovene: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: socavar (es), desvirtuar (es)
• Swedish: underminera (sv), undergräva (sv)
• Ukrainian: підрива́ти impf (pidryváty), підірва́ти pf (pidirváty)
• Welsh: tanseilio (cy)

to dig, tunnel, hollow out as if making a cave or opening

• Catalan: soscavar (ca)
• Czech: podkopávat
• Danish: undergrave
• Esperanto: subfosi
• French: saper (fr)
• German: untergraben (de)
• Greek: υποσκάπτω (el) (yposkápto)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: aláaknáz (hu)
• Latin: surruō
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: underminere, undergrave

• Portuguese: solapar (pt), minar (pt)
• Russian: подка́пывать (ru) impf (podkápyvatʹ), подкопа́ть (ru) pf (podkopátʹ), подрыва́ть (ru) impf (podryvátʹ), подры́ть (ru) pf (podrýtʹ)
• Spanish: socavar (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} subfosi
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} insidiare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} undergräva (sv), ^{(please verify)} underminera (sv)

Further reading

• “undermine”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “undermine”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “undermine”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.