Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To perform worse or achieve less success than expected.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
achieve less thanexpected ; to fail tofulfil one'spotential .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb perform less well or with less success than expected
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Mr. Obama may be counting on Republicans not to underachieve but to overreach.
Republicans Won Bigger Than You Think Fred Barnes 2010
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"The greatest risk to the world economy today is that the largest economies underachieve on growth," Geithner told the gathering.
U.S. warns China on currency policy William Branigin 2010
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"Most of us still have the capacity to take additional actions that would improve both short-run and long-run growth prospects," and the biggest risk to the global recovery is that advanced nations underachieve on growth, Mr. Geithner said.
Geithner Takes Aim at China Currency Ian Talley 2010
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But in tomorrow's report, the story of ethnicity is a complicated one – in which poor black boys underachieve, as do those from Irish Traveller families, but poor Chinese girls overachieve; Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities see different outcomes to Indian ones; and there is a growing group of mixed race children who in themselves have complex outcomes.
Britain's divided schools: a disturbing portrait of inequality Anushka Asthana 2010
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Until the Sharks stop concentrating on having great regular seasons and instead build their team for the playoff grind, they will continue to underachieve.
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Or maybe they will continue to underachieve, because there are some deep-seated problems in San Francisco.
The BIGGEST NFL Disappointments Heading Into Week 4 (PHOTOS) Huffington Post/AP 2010
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Black children underachieve, she said, "because of what the well-meaning liberal does to him".
Christina Patterson: The Perils of Straight-talking on Race Christina Patterson 2010
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Or maybe they will continue to underachieve, because there are some deep-seated problems in San Francisco.
The BIGGEST NFL Disappointments Heading Into Week 4 (PHOTOS) Huffington Post/AP 2010
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Next they underachieve at GCSE, failing to go in such large numbers to university; when they do, they are less likely to gain a 2: 1 or a first.
Britain's divided schools: a disturbing portrait of inequality Anushka Asthana 2010
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Even today, the economy looks like it will underachieve -- not unexpectedly following such a serious financial crisis.
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