Dictionary

underbelly en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈʌn.dəˌbɛl.i/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈan.dəˌbel.i/ (Australia)
• /ˈʌn.dɚˌbɛl.i/ (Canada, General-American)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From under- + belly.

Meanings

1. The underside of an animal.
   • We identified the species of the snake by its blue-grey underbelly.
   • The soft underbelly of the dragon. In the legend, the dragon's armor doesn't cover its stomach. 1952 September, Philip K[indred] Dick, “The Gun”, in Planet Stories, New York, N.Y.: Love Romances Publishing Company, →OCLC; republished as The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, volume 1 (Beyond Lies the Wub), Los Angeles, Calif.: Underwood–Miller, 1987, →ISBN:
   • The biologist and his team were greeted by a nonstop squid review, with Humboldt squid darting in toward the boat and flashing their underbellies in attempts to lure small schooling fish near the surface. 2015, Michael Tennesen, The Next Species: The Future of Evolution in the Aftermath of Man, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN; trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, March 2016, →ISBN, page 120:
2. The underside of any thing.
   • A jolt told me that the Nautilus had bumped the underbelly of the Ice Bank, still quite thick to judge from the hollowness of the accompanying noise. 1993, Jules Verne, chapter 37, in Walter James Miller, Frederick Paul Walter, transl., Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea: The Definitive Unabridged Edition Based on the Original French Texts, Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, →ISBN:
3. (figuratively) The side which is not normally seen, normally a dark, immoral place.
   • Another danger for Vance is that the MAGA establishment he is courting may turn out to be less than meets the eye, that the ability of the professoriate at the Claremont Institute — or the angry bloggers and social media stars who make up the hard-right underbelly — to influence major blocs of Republican primary voters is a mirage masking real political weakness.. 2025 December 2, Thomas B. Edsall, “Is There Life for MAGA After Trump?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
   • In order to take the initiative, military leaders from Great Britain and the United States decided to attack in Africa, cross the Mediterranean, and move up against the "soft underbelly" of German-dominated Europe. 1967, Boyd C. Shafer, Richard A. McLemore, Everett Auspurger, Kenneth E. Miller, “World Cataclysm and the United States”, in Manual, Test, and Answers for 1865 to the Present: A United States History for High Schools, teachers’ edition, River Forest, Ill.: Laidlaw Brothers, →OCLC, page 98, column 2:
   • The area by the canal is the underbelly of town – not something you’d see in the guidebooks.
   • The book arrives at a moment of reckoning for the running world, as more female runners have come forward to share their stories of the sport’s dark underbelly, one that can be rife with manipulation, eating disorders and physical and emotional abuse. 2023 March 25, Talya Minsberg, “In Her New Book, Kara Goucher Keeps Running Accountable”, in The New York Times:
   • The documents in this report reveal how such doctrinal disagreements have historically driven wedges within the upper echelons of al-Qa'ida. It is this intra-movement contention that comprises the soft underbelly of violent jihad, which can be exploited to great ends. 2006 February 14, “Organizational Vulnerabilities and Recommendations to Exploit Them”, in Harmony and Disharmony: Exploiting al-Qa’ida’s Organizational Vulnerabilities, [West Point, N.Y.]: Combating Terrorism Center, Department of Social Sciences, United States Military Academy, →OCLC, page 53:
   • Twenty-one years after the movie "Trainspotting" gave the world a glimpse into Edinburgh's seedy, heroin-filled underbelly, the franchise is back on the map with “T2 Trainspotting.” 2017 January 26, Christopher D. Shea, “‘T2 Trainspotting’: The Early Reviews”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 22 Feb 2017:

Forms

Deriveds

underbellied · soft underbelly

Translations (5)

de dunkle Seite (side which is not normally seen) · de Schattenseite (side which is not normally seen) · el υπογάστριο (side which is not normally seen) · de Unterseite (side which is not normally seen) · es vientre (side which is not normally seen)