(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.
Underscore
Definition:
(v. t.) To draw a mark or line under; to underline.
Example Sentences:
(1) Today's identification of four types and various sub-types of 5-HT receptors has revealed the extraordinary eclecticism of this transmitter which within migraine's clinical expression underscores that migraine sufferers are characterized by a marked sensitivity to all the drugs capable of acutely or chronically interacting with serotonin metabolism and binding with many serotonin receptor types and sub-types.
(2) Pfizer kept up its efforts to get AstraZeneca to the negotiating table over its £63bn approach as it reported revenue well below Wall Street expectations, underscoring its interest in pursuing its UK rival to promote new business growth.
(3) In addition, re-analysis of previous investigations of the MAB underscores the importance of ascertaining the reading level of subjects prior to the administration of the MAB.
(4) This outbreak underscores the importance of adopting appropriate industrial hygiene measures in a rapidly industrializing nation such as Taiwan.
(5) The present analysis underscores the point that metabolic rate, like foraging behavior, should be thought of as evolutionarily labile.
(6) During those conversations, Monaco underscored US support for Yemen, according to White House summaries.
(7) "Naysmith underscored that Scotland received 'nothing' for releasing Megrahi, while the UK government has gotten everything – a chance to stick it to Salmond's SNP and good relations with Libya."
(8) Speaking in Washington on Thursday, the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, said the offensive underscored the growing threat posed by Isis militants – whom he referred to using the group’s Arabic acronym “Daesh”.
(9) In the case reported here, the diagnosis of TTS was made primarily as a result of previous experience with the syndrome, underscoring the importance of physician recognition of this unusual disorder.
(10) Reports of mistaken administration of thrombolytic therapy to patients with pericarditis or aortic dissection, other conditions that may be electrocardiographically mimic MI, underscore the potential for error.
(11) Results underscore the importance of measuring symptoms carefully when assessing these patients, whose health status is substantially affected by the Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
(12) The findings underscore the need for close monitoring of physical growth and nutritional status of NOFT children following hospitalization as well as comprehensive assessment and treatment for children who continue to demonstrate nutritional deficits.
(13) Either way, it underscores the importance of Washoe County and just how close the presidential race is in the Silver State.
(14) We have reviewed the literature on dermatologic manifestations of acute acquired toxoplasmosis to underscore the importance of considering toxoplasmosis in the differential diagnosis of febrile illnesses with varied dermatologic presentations.
(15) Further, the importance of considering possible sources of potential confounding in producing quite different levels of association between life stress and adaptation was underscored by the results.
(16) The mayor is a good person, but no one invited him, certainly not officially … The pope was furious.” While the prank provided fodder to critics of the mayor, it also underscored a more serious issue between the Vatican and Rome just a few months ahead of the church’s jubilee year of mercy, which begins on 8 December.
(17) It is suggested that the procedures and findings of this study contribute to the community mental health field by a) underscoring communications concepts that are helpful to abusive families; b) modeling a novel design for evaluating interventions that includes self-help participation as a nonspecific treatment; and c) illustrating the value of collaborative efforts between self-help groups and human services providers when they serve their mutual interests.
(18) This case serves to underscore the occurrence of human parvovirus infection in adults.
(19) Our data underscore the need for classification of patients by the underlying mechanisms in future studies of treatment of ischemic stroke.
(20) The high frequency of gp195 antibody responses underscores a potential role in serodiagnosis, whereas the dynamic nature of the response suggests that a rigorous schedule of prospective serum sampling will be required to accurately assess the relationship between these antibodies and protection.