noun
Meaning 1
An inadequate dose (of a medication).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
underdose
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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noun
Meaning 2
An inadequate amount of something.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
To administer an inadequate dose (to someone or to oneself).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive, transitive
Examples
- 1945, Alexander Fleming, Nobel acceptance speech, cited in Jenny Rohn, “The hunt is on for new antibiotics—but we have to start looking outside the lab,” The Guardian, 19 February, 2015, The time may come when penicillin can be bought by anyone in the shops. Then there is the danger that the ignorant man may easily underdose himself and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant.
- 2016, Kelly Close, letter to the editor, The New York Times, 29 February, 2016, It is true that insulin costs are high; as a result some patients may underdose. We need better reimbursement to address that.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To administer an inadequate dose of (a medication).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To use a scant or inadequate amount of an ingredient or product.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From under- + dose, by analogy with overdose.