UNDERCURRENT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Undercurrent

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/ˈəndərkˌərənt/ Listen

noun

Undercurrent n.

A current below the surface of water, sometimes flowing in a contrary direction to that on the surface.

Hence, figuratively, a tendency of feeling, opinion, or the like, in a direction contrary to what is publicly shown; an unseen influence or tendency; as, a strong undercurrent of sentiment in favor of a prisoner. "All the while there was a busy undercurrent in her."

adjective

Undercurrent adj. Running beneath the surface; hidden. (R.) "Undercurrent woe."

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Etymology of 'Undercurrent'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Undercurrent" Quotes from Famous Books

... wedged between two pieces that held together from some unknown cause. Presently they were carried down toward a large berg that seemed to be aground, for the loose ice was passing it swiftly. This was not the case, however. An undercurrent, far down in the depths of the sea, was acting on this berg, and preventing it from travelling with the ice that floated with the stream at the surface. In its passing, the mass of ice that held them struck one of the projecting tongues beneath the surface, and ...

— Fast in the Ice - Adventures in the Polar Regions • R.M. Ballantyne

... then, of which the first was "Punch and Peel" (July 24th, 1841), were, in fact, political leading-articles, satirical, ironical, bitter, and more often demagogic than humorous, though of wit and humour both there was a generous undercurrent. Punch showed himself at once a fighting man who meant to be in the thick of the fray, a politician as impulsive as Macaulay; and though Jerrold did not begin to sign his articles until the ninth week (which has given ...

— The History of "Punch" • M. H. Spielmann

... that because you have never opened your mind to me, I have not known what you were thinking, or have left you to think alone about it. Mother and daughter are too near not to hear each other without words. There is between you and me a constant undercurrent of communion, and occasionally a passing of almost definite thought, I believe. We may not be aware of it at the time, but none the less ...

— Weighed and Wanting • George MacDonald

... lasher, just behind the lock, is a very good place to drown yourself in. The undercurrent is terribly strong, and if you once get down into it you are all right. An obelisk marks the spot where two men have already been drowned, while bathing there; and the steps of the obelisk are generally used as a diving-board ...

— Three Men in a Boa • Jerome K. Jerome

... An undercurrent of anxiety pervaded the ship, for we were running with no landmark to guide us, and with only the captain's knowledge of the bay and the tides to bring us ...

— Byways Around San Francisco Bay • William E. Hutchinson

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