Standard Lemma guide
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
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.
noun
An underlying threat of disaster beneath the surface of everyday life.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A mythical monster that lurks underwater to catch unwary swimmers; a personification of an undertow.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
From John Irving's 1978 novel The World According to Garp, in which the title character's son Walt mishears warnings about the undertow at the beach as warnings about an "under toad", causing the title character to subsequently use the phrase "under toad" to refer to the omnipresent threat of disaster that lies beneath the surface of everyday life.
