What's the difference between undercut and undermine?

Undercut


Definition:

  • (n.) The lower or under side of a sirloin of beef; the fillet.
  • (v. t.) To cut away, as the side of an object, so as to leave an overhanging portion.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Republicans remain wary of a contentious debate on the divisive issue, which could anger their core voters and undercut potential electoral gains in the November elections when control of Congress will be at stake.
  • (2) Monday's ruling didn't just undercut the mayor's farewell gesture, a capstone in his crusade against unhealthful or just distasteful public behavior, which he was planning to trumpet on Letterman that night.
  • (3) But the large sums that undercut Hillary’s sudden fondness for economic populism will undercut Biden just as much, especially if raised conspicuously quickly.
  • (4) Uruguay is trying to bring the cannabis market under state control by undercutting and outlawing the traffickers.
  • (5) Differences between frameworks, number of clasps, and depth of undercuts were all significant.
  • (6) The absence of a credible vision of a reformed EMU and financial 'firewall' has rendered Spain and other so-called peripheral nations vulnerable to capital flight and undercut their access to affordable fiscal funding."
  • (7) 1) In polishing the axial surface of the inner crown of the conic telescope crown system, the milling machine with a polishing disk facilitated specular finishing without causing undercutting in the region from the occlusal surface to the dental cervix.
  • (8) Zinc oxide-eugenol paste are widely used in clinical dentistry, principally for impression of non-undercut edentulous ridges, or bite taking materials.
  • (9) That will also benefit the many companies that do innovate and invest in their staff and pay their taxes – and should not be undercut by the unethical practices of a few.
  • (10) Combinations of undercut dimensions and tray relief were tested by using three different sized trays with each tissue conditioner.
  • (11) For the precipitation of protein the pH-value 3 must not be undercut.
  • (12) Indeed, this anti-patriarchal behaviour, which undercuts the nuclear family and makes partnership with men a peripheral concern, is something to celebrate.
  • (13) But making immigration work for everyone and not just a few means people should contribute before they claim and we should never, ever allow companies to undercut wages and conditions of workers here by paying slave wages to those brought in from overseas.” Miliband also criticised the prime minister for his failure to commit to TV debates during the general election campaign, claiming Cameron was desperate because he “knows he has failed”.
  • (14) In three visits to the area over the last two weeks, almost all the voters I spoke to began each conversation by saying, unprompted, that they were concerned about immigration – the electrician complaining about wages being undercut by eastern European workers, the parents unable to get their offspring into local primary schools because immigrant children were taking up scarce places, the patients waiting for a GP appointment in a waiting room filled with foreign chatter.
  • (15) Simon Burgess, a specialist PPI broker who claims to undercut bank rates by 50%, says: "It is easy to hide profits through wholly-owned subsidiaries.
  • (16) Agüero's deadlock-breaker was undercut by trademark explosiveness.
  • (17) Support for waterboarding would not undercut such advocacy, he insisted.
  • (18) He says it made a huge difference because by putting out the narrative of a protest gone wrong, the Obama administration undercut Libyan president Magarief, who was calling the attack a terror attack.
  • (19) That will be attractive to publishers worried that ebooks will undercut them.
  • (20) The so-called margin control mechanism is designed to stop BT undercutting rivals.

Undermine


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To excavate the earth beneath, or the part of, especially for the purpose of causing to fall or be overthrown; to form a mine under; to sap; as, to undermine a wall.
  • (v. t.) Fig.: To remove the foundation or support of by clandestine means; to ruin in an underhand way; as, to undermine reputation; to undermine the constitution of the state.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Their efforts will include blocking the NSA from undermining encryption and barring other law enforcement agencies from collecting US data in bulk.
  • (2) And any Labour commitment on spending is fatally undermined by their deficit amnesia.” Davey widened the attack on the Tories, following a public row this week between Clegg and Theresa May over the “snooper’s charter”, by accusing his cabinet colleague Eric Pickles of coming close to abusing his powers by blocking new onshore developments against the wishes of some local councils.
  • (3) Chadwick felt that Customs and Trading Standards needed to continue their war on illegal tobacco – if not, efforts to tackle smoking could be undermined.
  • (4) But for decades now there has been a systematic undermining of it [the NHS’s] core values.
  • (5) The government also faced considerable international political pressure, with the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture, Juan Méndez, calling publicly on the government to "provide full redress to the victims, including fair and adequate compensation", and writing privately to David Cameron, along with two former special rapporteurs, to warn that the government's position was undermining its moral authority across the world.
  • (6) Like the doctor who makes a decision to operate without consulting the patient, I’m diminishing your autonomy by undermining it.
  • (7) There, the US Joint Commission, an independent, non-profit organisation that accredits healthcare organisations and programmes has issued a standard on “behaviours that undermine a culture of safety” to tackle “intimidating and disruptive behaviour at work”.
  • (8) Group B meningococcal vaccine consisting of the natural complex of specific polysaccharide and outer membrane protein (OMP) has been shown to be moderately reactogenic, safe with respect to the effect of undermining tolerance to human brain tissue antigens and to produce no allergization of humans.
  • (9) The end of the cold war and a reshaping of the threats faced by the UK had undermined the logic of nuclear deterrence strategy, he said.
  • (10) Then Greece has another chance.” But the intervention by the IMF will undermine EU leaders who argue Greece must submit to a fresh round of austerity measures to release funds for debt repayments.
  • (11) Entitled Jobs, Justice and Equity, the report warned that growing inequality, marginalisation and disenfranchisement are threatening Africa's prospects and undermining the foundations of its recent success.
  • (12) Umunna said: "Where you have pay awards that bear no relation to performance, but also can be beyond what a company can sustain, it really undermines trust in the whole system.
  • (13) The home team's defence had been undermined by naivety and it was in evidence when Stepanov, already on a yellow card for a foul on McGeady and having been played into trouble, lunged for the ball only to be beaten to it by Keane.
  • (14) The home secretary has been concerned that British involvement in the UN refugee programme would become an open-ended commitment that risked undermining the Tories' commitment to reduce net migration to the UK to tens of thousands by 2015.
  • (15) The Public Accounts committee (PAC) said on Thursday that the "chaos" surrounding the failure of G4S to provide enough staff for the Olympics had undermined confidence in Games organisers.
  • (16) Moreover, uncertainty about the resolution of these fiscal issues could itself undermine business and household confidence," said Bernanke.
  • (17) The clashes between the moralistic Levin and his friend Oblonsky, sometimes affectionate, sometimes angry, and Levin's linkage of modernity to Oblonsky's attitudes – that social mores are to be worked around and subordinated to pleasure, that families are base camps for off-base nooky – undermine one possible reading of Anna Karenina , in which Anna is a martyr in the struggle for the modern sexual freedoms that we take for granted, taken down by the hypocritical conservative elite to which she, her lover and her husband belong.
  • (18) James Cleverly, MP for Braintree, who supported Johnson’s aborted leadership bid before backing May, said joking about him risked undermining the foreign secretary.
  • (19) These effects of governmental restrictions on abortion do indeed interfere with the obstetrician's basic goal of providing optimal care for the patient and undermine their efforts to improve maternal and infant health.
  • (20) Poor crossing undermined Liverpool in the first leg, Klopp had claimed, but the flaw was remedied quickly in the return.