Standard Lemma guide

underwhelm

verb · 1 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

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  • CMU ARPABET: AH2 N D ER0 W EH1 L M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To fail to impress; to perform disappointingly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From under- + whelm: a humorous coinage by novel negation of overwhelm first recorded in the 1950s.

Across languages

Translations

17 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: teleurstellen — fail to impress
  • Finnish: olla mitäänsanomaton — fail to impress
  • French: décevoir — fail to impress
  • French: laisser sur sa faim — fail to impress
  • German: enttäuschen — fail to impress
  • German: unterwältigen — fail to impress
  • Hungarian: alulmúlja a várakozásait — fail to impress
  • Hungarian: csalódást kelt/okoz — fail to impress
  • Ido: deceptar — fail to impress
  • Polish: rozczarować — fail to impress
  • Portuguese: desapontar — fail to impress
  • Romanian: dezamăgi — fail to impress
  • Romanian: decepționa — fail to impress
  • Romanian: deziluziona — fail to impress
  • Russian: разочарова́ть (razočarovátʹ) — fail to impress
  • Russian: разочаро́вывать (razočaróvyvatʹ) — fail to impress
  • Spanish: decepcionar — fail to impress