American Dictionary

Define dictionary terms easily in our powerful online English dictionary.

Searching for...

No matching words found

Try a different search term or browse the dictionary

Definition underlie in American English

underlie verb

[transitive] verb
/ˌʌndərˈlaɪ/
1

to be the real or basic cause of or reason for something

Example

What really underlies most heart disease?

Example

The safety of children underlies all our decisions.

Synonyms and related words
Definition underlie in American English