Standard Lemma guide

underfoot

adj · adv · noun · verb · 10 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ʌndəˈfʊt/
  • British, Southern, Standard: /ʌndəˈfɵt/
  • General-American: /ʌndɚˈfʊt/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Northern-England: /ʊndəˈfʊt/
  • Scotland: /ʌndəɾˈfʉt/
  • Northern-Ireland: /ʌndəɹˈfʉt/
  • CMU ARPABET: AH2 N D ER0 F UH1 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Situated under one's foot or feet.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

In the way; placed so as to obstruct or hinder.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Downtrodden; abject.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adv

Meaning 4

Under one's foot or feet.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • The workers were all big, burly, hard-hearted men, tromping through the marsh in their heavy boots without sparing so much as a single thought for the masses of tiny frogs they crushed underfoot.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

adv

Meaning 5

In the way; situated so as to obstruct or hinder.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • It would be easier to do a big project like that someday when we don't have a bunch of newcomers underfoot.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

A storage compartment that sits below the deck of a boat.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

verb

Meaning 7

To provide a footing beneath; to shore up or underpin.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

verb

Meaning 8

To assign a column summary that is less than the sum of all the entries in that column.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: accounting, business, finance

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

adverb

Meaning 9

under the feet

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • trampled the beans underfoot
  • green grass growing underfoot

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

adverb

Meaning 10

in the way and hindering progress

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a house with children and pets and toys always underfoot

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English underfoote, underfote, equivalent to under- + foot. Cognate with Middle Dutch ondervoet (“underfoot”). Compare also Middle Low German undervôt (“pedestal, base”).

Across languages

Translations

15 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: под краката (pod krakata) — under one's feet
  • Chinese Mandarin: 在腳下 /在脚下 (zài jiǎoxià) — under one's feet
  • Finnish: jalkojen alla — under one's feet
  • French: sous les pieds — under one's feet
  • German: unter den Füßen — under one's feet
  • German: unter die Füße — under one's feet
  • Hungarian: útban — under one's feet
  • Japanese: 足元に (ashimoto ni) — under one's feet
  • Manx: fo chosh — under one's feet
  • Polish: pod nogami — under one's feet
  • Polish: pod nogi — under one's feet
  • Russian: под нога́ми (pod nogámi) — under one's feet
  • Russian: под но́ги (pod nógi) — under one's feet
  • Spanish: debajo de los pies — under one's feet
  • Spanish: bajo los pies — under one's feet
Real reading context

underfoot in complete knowledge articles