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underachievement

underachievement

1 5.4
Doing less well than expected for a person's ability
  • noun
  • /ˌʌndərəˈtʃivmənt/
translation icon : bajo rendimiento
  • The school's new program aims to reduce underachievement among students who are capable of better performance.
  • academic underachievement
  • students' underachievement
  • underachievement in reading

Examples

  • As children who engaged in bullying got older, their risk for academic underachievement and dropping out of school increased.

    Academic text (2008)
  • However, the ongoing underachievement and high dropout rate of some racial/ethnic groups are still of major concern.

    Academic text (2011)
  • If students are not given the opportunity to become active participants in their learning, underachievement may result.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Both programs were developed to change patterns of underachievement in students to patterns of success.

    Academic text (1993)
  • However, members of this profile type show a clear pattern of underachievement in writing.

    Academic text (1994)
  • The larger problem connected to the underachievement may be their lack of social adeptness.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Few other programs have reported their rates for underachievement or attrition in published articles.

    Academic text (1995)
  • To what extent do social, psychological, and cultural forces influence underachievement among the Black students sampled?

    Academic text (1993)
  • Although reasons for previous grade retention were not investigated, academic underachievement seems a plausible cause.

    Academic text (1991)
  • The author suggests that differential attitudes and treatment of minority students may contribute to underachievement.

    Academic text (2013)

Synonyms

underperformance
vsunderachievement
3 4.6

A person, team, or company not doing as well as expected

is specific to people doing worse than their ability predicts

Antonyms

A result that is much better than people expected

How Well

success
1.0
achievement
344 2.3
average
1.0
underachievement
1 5.4
failure
557 1.3

Surface Forms

Morphology

underachievement = underachieve (transparent) = under + achieve + ment

Formed by adding the noun-forming suffix '-ment' to the verb 'underachieve', yielding the state or result of performing below expectations.

Etymology

Underachievement comes from under- meaning 'below' and achievement from achieve, which means 'to reach or get a goal'. So, underachievement describes doing 'below' what people expect from your ability.