undermined

[ uhn-der-mahynd uhn-der-mahynd ]

adjective

1. attacked, weakened, or defeated by underhand or seemingly harmless actions or by imperceptible stages:

   Both the struggling students and the most gifted ones are receiving limited support from an undermined educational system.

2. weakened or made to collapse by removing underlying support, as by eroding or digging away the foundation:

   With the release of material from the undermined cliffs at these sites, we should have had far more sand to feed the beaches, not less.

3. deliberately weakened by an excavation or tunnel dug underneath, as by an enemy in war:

   When the town was besieged, its defenders abandoned the undermined walls and retired into the citadel.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of undermine.

Word History and Origins

Origin of undermined¹

undermine ( def ) + -ed ²( def )

Example Sentences

They argue that focusing on housing people regardless of their sobriety status has led to successes, like a recent drop in veteran homelessness, that would be undermined if Trump reverses course.

From Los Angeles Times

But delays in the project, legal hurdles and human rights concerns, as well as doubts about cost-effectiveness, have undermined its success so far.

From BBC

For all England's unquestionable courage and energy, they have continually been undermined by mistakes this autumn.

From BBC

She undermined the basic argument that content creators have made against AI firms: that the process of feeding their AI models data indiscriminately “scraped” from the internet inevitably involves using copyrighted content without permission.

From Los Angeles Times

They argue that the extensive list of chemicals has led to nearly universal warnings, which they say has undermined the law’s original intent and given consumers warning fatigue.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• flawed