UNDERLING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does underling mean? 

• UNDERLING (noun)
  The noun UNDERLING has 1 sense:

1. an assistant subject to the authority or control of another

  Familiarity information: UNDERLING used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNDERLING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An assistant subject to the authority or control of another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

foot soldier; subordinate; subsidiary; underling

Hypernyms ("underling" is a kind of...):

assistant; help; helper; supporter (a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "underling"):

associate (a person with subordinate membership in a society, institution, or commercial enterprise)

bottom dog (a person of low status)

cog (a subordinate who performs an important but routine function)

man (a male subordinate)

second banana; second fiddle (someone who serves in a subordinate capacity or plays a secondary role)

 Context examples 

A cell of the uterine wall immediately underling the endometrial epithelium.

(Endometrial Stromal Cell, NCI Thesaurus)

This is because meerkat underlings are forced to take the often-fatal risk of leaving the safety of the group to find breeding opportunities, say scientists.

(Breeder meerkats age faster, but their subordinates still die younger, University of Cambridge)

I remember well that, at the siege of Retters, there was a little, sleek, fat clerk of the name of Chaucer, who was so apt at rondel, sirvente, or tonson, that no man dare give back a foot from the walls, lest he find it all set down in his rhymes and sung by every underling and varlet in the camp.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)