underfoot
adjective · adverb · verb · noun
Simple meaning
In the way; placed so as to obstruct or hinder.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnderfuutSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əndɚˈfʊt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Situated under one's foot or feet.
In the way; placed so as to obstruct or hinder.
Downtrodden; abject.
adverb
Under one's foot or feet.
In the way; situated so as to obstruct or hinder.
In the way and hindering progress
“A house with children and pets and toys always underfoot.”
verb
transitive
To provide a footing beneath; to shore up or underpin.
noun
A storage compartment that sits below the deck of a boat.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Situated under one's foot or feet.
Used this way, underfoot is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use underfoot
- “A house with children and pets and toys always underfoot.”adverb
- “Trampled the beans underfoot.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.