Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🔦 Lit from below 🌑 Not enough light
underlit

underlit

1 5.5
Lit from below to make dramatic shadows
  • adjective
  • /ˌʌndərˈlɪt/
translation icon : iluminado desde abajo
  • During the film, the characters were often seen in underlit scenes that heightened the suspense.

Examples

  • The sculpture appeared more striking when underlit, emphasizing its intricate details.

  • She looks like a crazed, underlit psycho.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • His cheekbones protruded and his cheeks had become hollow, giving him an underlit actor's look.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The stage was dramatically underlit, casting eerie shadows across the actors.

Surface Forms

underlit positive

Morphology

underlit = light (transparent) = under + light + lit

Formed by the productive prefix 'under-' (meaning 'from below') attached to 'light' (lit), so the meaning 'illuminated from below' is directly derivable.

Etymology

Underlit comes from under ('beneath') + lit ('with light'), so it literally means 'light from below'. That 'light from below' often makes faces or statues look strange or dramatic, which is why things are underlit to create unusual shadows.