undermine

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To dig underneath (something), to make a passage for destructive or military purposes; to sap.

   Martin, for instance, had on one occasion undermined a tree sacred to old gods, then stood in the path of its fall, but forced it to fall elsewhere by making the sign of the Cross.

2. 2
   verb

   To weaken or work against; to hinder, sabotage.

   The war efforts were undermined by the constant bickering between the allies.

3. 3
   verb

   To erode the base or foundation of something, e.g. by the action of water.

   Services between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley via Falkirk High are currently suspended, following a 30-metre breach of the Union Canal that occurred on August 12 after torrential rain and thunderstorms. The thousands of gallons of water that cascaded onto the railway line below washed away track, ballast and overhead line equipment, and undermined embankments along a 300-metre section of Scotland's busiest rail link.

4. 4
   verb

   To regard an object as the sum of the parts that compose it, in object-oriented ontology.

   We can even go further: when we consider an object in everyday life we do not usually just undermine or overmine it as if it demanded an either/or approach, but rather we run the two processes in tandem: duomining, as Harman labels it.

5. 5
   verb

   hollow out as if making a cave or opening

6. 6
   verb

   destroy property or hinder normal operations

Etymology

From under- + mine.