underachiever
11
4.6
- noun
- /ˌʌndərəˈtʃivər/
:
alumno de bajo rendimiento
- Many teachers are concerned about the underachiever in their class who could excel but chooses not to.
- gifted underachievers
- underachievers and achievers
- male underachievers
And I after, you know, being quite an underachiever, I was very good at underachieving.
- And I after, you know, being quite an underachiever, I was very good at underachieving.
- You know, it was always underachiever and stuff.
Examples
-
Approximately 10% of the 65 students were identified as underachievers, having received failing grades in two or more classes.
Academic text (1993) -
Future research should focus on studying underachievers and the early career productivity of early entrants.
Academic text (1995) -
Where the underachiever goes home at night to parents who care.
-
He is the biggest underachiever of all time.
-
I think the worst you can say about him is that basically he's an underachiever.
-
He's intelligent, but an underachiever.
-
Clearly, the fact that the most gifted Black students sampled were underachievers represented a waste of much human potential.
Academic text (1993) -
Gifted Black male underachievers appear to be even more pessimistic than female underachievers.
Academic text (1993) -
High-ability students are often underachievers, perhaps because of a lack of academic self-esteem or because of peer rejection.
Academic text (1993) -
Despite his intelligence, James is often labeled as an underachiever in school because he doesn't try his best.
Synonyms
1
5.2
A person or company that does not do as well as others expect
A person who does less well than expected for their abilities
Antonyms
18
5.0
A person who works very hard and gets better results than expected at school or work
How Well
- Indian
7
6.7
18
5.0
∞
1.0
11
4.6
1
4.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
underachiever = underachieve (transparent) = under + achieve + er
The immediate base 'underachieve' is transparently formed from 'under-' (insufficiently) + 'achieve', and '-er' simply forms an agent noun.
Etymology
Underachiever comes from under ('below') and achieve ('to reach' a goal), so it paints the picture of someone who reaches below what they could. That's why an underachiever is a person, often a student, who does less than their ability or expected level.