undermine
Americanverb (used with object)
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to injure or destroy by insidious activity or imperceptible stages, sometimes tending toward a sudden dramatic effect.
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to attack by indirect, secret, or underhand means; attempt to subvert by stealth.
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to make an excavation under; dig or tunnel beneath, as a military stronghold.
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to weaken or cause to collapse by removing underlying support, as by digging away or eroding the foundation.
verb
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(of the sea, wind, etc) to wear away the bottom or base of (land, cliffs, etc)
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to weaken gradually or insidiously
their insults undermined her confidence
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to tunnel or dig beneath
Other Word Forms
- underminer noun
Etymology
Origin of undermine
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English underminen; under-, mine 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The game maker Roblox puts it like this in its annual report: “Failure to address AI ethics issues by us or others in our industry could undermine public confidence in our use of AI.”
He survived waves of social change in Iran and multiple American administrations bent on undermining his rule.
Saddam Hussein, Iraq's president, feared that Khomeini's Islamic revolution would spread abroad and undermine his own regime.
From BBC
“In a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values,” Amodei wrote Thursday.
From MarketWatch
The firm's chief executive Dario Amodei said on Thursday that his company would rather not work with the Pentagon than agree to uses of its tech that may "undermine, rather than defend, democratic values."
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
