English edit

Etymology edit

under- +‎ whelm: a humorous coinage by novel negation of overwhelm[1] first recorded in the 1950's.[2]

Verb edit

underwhelm (third-person singular simple present underwhelms, present participle underwhelming, simple past and past participle underwhelmed)

  1. To fail to impress; to perform disappointingly.
    • 2021 August 5, Shira Ovide, “YouTube Is Underwhelming”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
      The fact that I even mentioned YouTube in the same paragraph as the middling TV company ViacomCBS and Twitter … well, that says something about how YouTube has underwhelmed for some time.

Antonyms edit

Translations edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ underwhelm”, in Collins English Dictionary.
  2. ^ underwhelm”, in OED Online  , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.