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Glite Dictionary
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underlining

underlining

2.7
Drawing a line under words to make them stand out
  • noun
  • /ˌʌndərˈlaɪnɪŋ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : subrayado
  • Her underlining of the main points made it easier for me to study for the exam.

And those claims to which I've now added some underlining are the following.

Examples

  • And the underlining indicates that SLEEP is used metaphorically.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Good underlining helps readers quickly identify key ideas in a text.

  • My goals always change, but I feel like my underlining goal has begun to remain the same.

  • And those claims to which I've now added some underlining are the following.

    YaleCourses

  • With this knowledge and their summaries, underlining, and wheel, they can produce good, detailed outlines that will serve as guides for their term papers.

    Academic text (1990)

  • I even kind of appreciate the underlinings in used books that I buy, though often these are insipid indoctrinations by the teachers.

    Blog text (4)

  • He did a little underlining, which since school he had considered a sign of seriousness, but his mind wandered even more than usual until it was time to meet her.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Jessup's margin notes and underlinings from college are still barely legible as faded pencil graffiti.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • He would sign memoranda or accept my recommendations almost absentmindedly now, without any of the intensive underlining and marginal comments that in the first term had indicated he had read my papers with care.

    Academic text (1990)

  • The teacher encouraged the students to use underlining to highlight important concepts in their notes.

Synonyms

underbar
vsunderlining
  • Specialized
7.6

A thin line placed under words to make them stand out or divide parts

refers to the action or result of drawing a line to emphasize text
highlighting
vsunderlining
  • Specialized
2.8

The act of marking text or code with color and background to show important parts

emphasizes by adding a visible line under text rather than using color
italicization
vsunderlining
4.6

Turning text so it leans to the right to show emphasis

emphasizes by drawing a straight line beneath text, not by slanting letters

How Emphatic

highlighting
  • Specialized
2.8
to bold
4 2.7
underlining
  • Specialized
2.7
italic
2 3.8
capital
1 1.0

Surface Forms

underlining singular
underlinings plural

Morphology

underlining = underline (transparent) = under + line + ing

This is the regular noun form of the verb 'underline', so the meaning is easy to infer.

Etymology

Underlining comes from the parts under- meaning 'below' and line meaning 'a mark'. It describes drawing a line below words to make them stand out, so underlining is a simple way to show something is important.