What's the difference between overwhelming and underwhelming?

Overwhelming


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Overwhelm
  • (a.) Overpowering; irresistible.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The following conclusions emerge: (i) when the 3' or the 3' penultimate base of the oligonucleotide mismatched an allele, no amplification product could be detected; (ii) when the mismatches were 3 and 4 bases from the 3' end of the primer, differential amplification was still observed, but only at certain concentrations of magnesium chloride; (iii) the mismatched allele can be detected in the presence of a 40-fold excess of the matched allele; (iv) primers as short as 13 nucleotides were effective; and (v) the specificity of the amplification could be overwhelmed by greatly increasing the concentration of target DNA.
  • (2) She added: “We will continue to act upon the overwhelming majority view of our shareholders.” The vote was the second year running Ryanair had suffered a rebellion on pay.
  • (3) T cells admixed in the germinal centers were overwhelmingly of the T-helper type.
  • (4) Unfortunately for the governor, he could win both states and still face the overwhelming likelihood of failure if he doesn't take Ohio, where the poll found Obama out front 51-43.
  • (5) In Britain, the European election is overwhelmingly seen through the prism of domestic politics.
  • (6) Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian Asked if Watson should seek to refresh his mandate after Corbyn’s overwhelming victory among members, McCluskey added: “Well, if Tom wants to try to refresh his mandate it would be interesting to see what happens.” Watson said it was time “to be proud of our party”, because the Conservatives were beatable and the prime minister, Theresa May, could call an election any time.
  • (7) The government acknowledged it had been overwhelmed by the devastation from the deadliest quake in Nepal in over 80 years.
  • (8) He made me laugh and cry, and his courage in writing about what he was going through was sometimes quite overwhelming.
  • (9) Although alpha 1-antiprotease (alpha 1-AP) binds and inactivates NE and is the major antielastase of the lower respiratory tract, antielastase defenses may be overwhelmed in CF, leading to progressive lung damage.
  • (10) And HAP has shown that the key finding that debt slows growth was driven overwhelmingly by the exclusion of four years of data from New Zealand.
  • (11) Cathepsin D-like acid proteinase existed overwhelmingly in the mucosal layer and was hardly detected in the gastric juice.
  • (12) Hence, reaction of chemical carcinogen with nuclear DNA is possible only when the cell is overwhelmed leading to cell death, or following a temporary breach of the nuclear membrane control points, but the DNA damage in the latter is totally reparable.
  • (13) The facts are clear: the overwhelming majority of EU citizens in Britain are contributors, not freeloaders.” But that was not the official position of any of the parties involved, so it went mostly unsaid.
  • (14) Of 54 patients with poor-grade aneurysms, ventriculostomy was placed in 47 (87.0%) and yielded high ICP's in the overwhelming majority, with the mean ICP being 40.2 cm H2O.
  • (15) There is overwhelming evidence, today, that such factors are involved in the manifestation of acute as well as chronic, non-specific as well as well as specific inflammation.
  • (16) Mobile phone networks, overwhelmed by demand, were down for hours, with authorities advising people to use email or text messages instead.
  • (17) The immunity was enacted by an overwhelming bipartisan vote, with the support of leading Democrats including Barack Obama, who had promised - when seeking his party's nomination - to filibuster any bill that contained retroactive telecom immunity.
  • (18) There’s an overwhelming sadness among kids like that who have been kept there for a very long time.
  • (19) Panic attacks would overwhelm her periodically and she experienced regular “ scanxiety ” – the feelings of dread that grip patients before new tests.
  • (20) In the meantime, Malaysia Airlines’ overwhelming focus will be the same as it has been from the outset – to provide the families with a comprehensive support programme.

Underwhelming


Definition:

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Clearly underwhelmed, Pochettino's haste to board Southampton's flight south was such that he swerved post-match media duties.
  • (2) There could be no complaints, however, when he and the again underwhelming Moses were withdrawn at half-time and the changes sparked an immediate improvement.
  • (3) Taylor, a sixty-something man with a neatly trimmed beard and a palpable pride in his business, has made "a couple of small sales" so far today, but footfall in the town is pretty underwhelming, and, in the market, almost non-existent.
  • (4) That cameo seemed horribly emblematic of a thoroughly underwhelming opening half which ended unadorned by a single shot on target, but almost imperceptibly something was shifting, and Klopp’s demeanour slowly shifted from jovially laid-back to scratchy and irritable.
  • (5) Levy has noted that the club are just two points worse off than they were at the corresponding point of last season but it is a measure of Tottenham's progress over recent years – they have finished in the top five every season since 2009-10 – that the currentcampaign has come to feel underwhelming.
  • (6) Your even more underwhelming UK holiday photos Read more Greg Dewhurst, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said Britain would start to feel the burn on Monday, with temperatures peaking on Wednesday in the high 20s and almost breaking 30C in some places.
  • (7) The Sun report that Bournemouth are also interested in signing the 22-year-old midfielder whose time in Rome has been underwhelming to say the least.
  • (8) So we’ve decided to call it The Grand Tour .” Ex-Top Gear trio Clarkson, Hammond and May to launch DriveTribe website Read more May said he was underwhelmed by the name.
  • (9) While we do expect some significant strength in the top two to three spots in 2015,” he wrote, “we are not convinced that the overall slate is going to drive performance that is significantly better than what we have generally seen over the past four years.” He also fears that the rise in superhero blockbusters is going to lead to disaster for some studios, in the same way that a wider pool of animated films has led to some casualties, with underwhelming receipts for Penguins of Madagascar and Mr Peabody & Sherman most recently.
  • (10) Yesterday, David Cameron pushed things along , acknowledging that boosting Holyrood’s status would reopen big questions for England, and making reference to last year’s report by the McKay commission – a plan that offered a somewhat underwhelming vision of “compromise rather than conflict”, but set out a future in which: “Decisions taken in the Commons which have a separate and distinct effect for England (or England-and-Wales)” would largely “be taken only with the consent of a majority of MPs sitting for constituencies in England (or England-and-Wales).” As is usually the case with such texts, most of it was couched in terms of deadened officialspeak.
  • (11) Some authorities, and several newspaper leader writers, have claimed him as our Galileo or our Einstein; others have been notably underwhelmed.
  • (12) Although he previously spent time away from the south coast during another,underwhelming, loan stint at Hull, Ramírez - who suffered a nasty injury against Brighton - remains a Southampton player.
  • (13) Voters looking for further nuance might have been left a little underwhelmed, not least by the expectation that world-famous analytic philosophers tend not to rely on anything as touchy feely as intuition.
  • (14) Hermione H oby's fine, if slightly underwhelmed, words Savages – Silence Yourself You can hear echoes of the music that inspired them … but what's striking is how easily Savages slip the moorings of their influences and come up with something fresh.
  • (15) The first, on a “remastered” version from 1999, sounded underwhelming: compressed, light on bass, palpably small.
  • (16) Campaigners including Labour Behind the Label, War on Want and Made in Europe believe the international response to the incident has been underwhelming, with a compensation fund for victims of the disaster remaining less than half full.
  • (17) And so Tony Blair should not have been surprised when politicians and publishers stood underwhelmed by his decision to call his memoir, the book that sparked the biggest political bidding war in British political history, The Journey.
  • (18) We want everyone to have the chance to win the sort of money most people can only dream of, unless they are a banker or a Euro MP.” Underwhelmed by the EU referendum?
  • (19) Hearing that the Conservatives have been holding their Spring Forum at Cheltenham this weekend, you may have assumed that this normally underwhelming political event has been taking place somewhere in the heart of the Gloucestershire spa town itself.
  • (20) eurozone GDP “Inventories have likely shaved off a bit of growth in the second quarter, but this actually bodes well for the second half, as industrial orders remain strong according to the European commission’s business survey.” European stocks regaining some of the week’s losses after news that the Greek parliament approved a third multibillion-euro bailout deal offset the underwhelming GDP figures.