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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

underseek en · VERB

Pronunciation

Etymology

From Middle English underseken, onderseken (also undersechen), from Old English undersēcan (“to investigate, examine”), equivalent to under- + seek. Cognate with West Frisian ûndersykje (“to research”), Dutch onderzoeken (“to investigate, probe, examine”), German untersuchen (“to examine, investigate, explore”).

Meanings

  1. (qualifier:otherwise rare, transitive) To examine; explore; investigate.
    • Hans parted his lips. "Underseeking your customs was the Kratzer's great work, and I have the sentence in my head that this example will please him. Perhaps. 2007, Michael Flynn, Eifelheim - Page 206:
  2. (transitive) To spend too little time or effort in seeking.
    • While basic economic theory predicts that all collective or public goods will be "underdemanded" due to collective action problems, the extent to which public goods are undersought is a function of the size of the group benefiting from the public good and the distribution of benefits within that group. 2008, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Symposium: the domestic commander in chief - Page 1277:
    • Bindman et al. (1995) found that there is little propensity to underseek care for serious conditions indicating that need can be a substantial motive for the use ^([sic]) health care services. 2007, Paul Richard Brezinski, Veteran Status, Health Status, and Use of Health Services - Page 24:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
underseeking Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
undersought Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
undersought Tense=Past lexicographic
underseeks Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic