Word Finder - undermined

definition

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

definition

To weaken or work against; to hinder, sabotage.

example

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

definition

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

The role of catharsis in one's mental health should not be undermined.

On Long Island, during Stuyvesant's rule, Dutch influence was gradually undermined by John Underhill.

He forgot that he had also limited all logical use of reason, and therefore of practical reason, to phenomena, and thereby undermined the rationality not only of knowledge, but also of faith.

His faith in a strong nationalistic policy was gradually undermined, and he finally became the foremost champion of particularism and the recognized leader of what is generally known as the "States Rights" or "Strict Construction" party.

Structural shortages, however, continually undermined this legitimacy.

A similar treatment was meted out to the ancient magistracies of the republic; and thus began the process by which the emperors undermined the self-respect of their subjects and eventually came to rule over a nation of slaves.

His health had been undermined by excessive work and anxiety, and after a short illness he died at Brunswick on the 15th of February 1781.

He and Spinola found themselves once more at the head of the armies in the field, but the health of the stadholder was undermined, and his military genius was under a cloud.

In reality, however, his power was undermined and was attacked by parliament, which on the 11th of October declared his commission void.

Among the causes which undermined Henrys strength was the fact that the mediate nobles, who had stood loyally by his father, Conrad, were not his friends; probably his wars made serious demands upon them, and his strict administration of justice, especially his insistence upon the maintenance of the public peace, was displeasing to them.

Thus he undermined the foundations of the Reichskammergericlit and stole a march upon Bertold and his friends.

The unity and the power of the league of Scbmalkalden were being undermined by two important events, the Th Jr bigamy of Philip of Hesse, which for political reasons defats.

In 1876 Eismarck proposed to introduce into the Criminal Code a clause making it an offence punishable with two years imprisonment to attack in print the family, property, universal military service, or other foundation of public order, in a manner which undermined morality, feeling for law, or the love of the Fatherland.

He gradually departed from the Miirzsteg basis, and in January 1908 deliberately undermined the Austro-Russian agreement by obtaining from the sultan a concession for a railway from the Bosnian frontier through the sanjak of Novibazar to the Turkish terminus at Mitrovitza.

The monarchy had been undermined.

Three months later, however, his health, undermined by his long confinement, gave way; and on the 31st of August he was deposed to make room for his younger brother, Abd-ul-Hamid II.

By these wars the dominant position of the Greeks was undermined even more quickly than would otherwise have been the case.

Throughout the second period of the Omayyads, representatives of this family were among their most dangerous opponents, partly by the skill with which they undermined the reputation of the reigning princes by accusations against their orthodoxy, their moral character and their administration in general, and partly by their cunning manipulation of internecine jealousies among the Arabic and non-Arabic subjects of the empire.

They were wilfully blind, and they would rather not see good done than see it done in a way that contradicted their teachings and undermined their influence.

In 764 Abdallah met his death by the collapse of his house, which had been deliberately undermined.

They had undermined the foundations of scientific certainty, and so far as the fecundity of contemporary science did not give them pause, were ready, notwithstanding the difference of their starting-point, to acquiesce in the formula as well as the temper of Pyrrhonism.

The disastrous British expedition of 1807 followed; and while at Constantinople the prestige of the sultan was being undermined by the series of revolutions which in 1808 brought Mahmud to the throne, that of Mehemet Ali was enhanced by the exhibition at Cairo of British prisoners and an avenue of stakes decorated with the heads of British slain.

Abigail, however, soon ventured to talk "business," and in the summer of 1707 the duchess discovered to her indignation that her protegee had already undermined her influence with the queen and had become the medium of Harley's intrigue.

Difficulties on the route; dissensions between Emin and the authorities in German East Africa, and misunderstandings on the part of both; epidemics of disease in Emin's force, followed by a growing spirit of mutiny among his native followers; an illness of a painful nature which attacked him - all these gradually undermined Emin's courage, and his diaries at the close of 1891 reflect a gloomy and almost hopeless spirit.

In justice, however, it should be added that his health was being steadily undermined by a mysterious internal complaint, and that Fenelon's tutorship came to an end on his disgrace in 169 7, before the pupil was fifteen.

The old initiative and self-reliance of the nation, already shaken by years of disaster, were now completely undermined, and the people submitted without show of resistance to a theocracy disguised as absolute monarchy.

It seemed to meet the feeling of many educated natives whose faith in current Hinduism was undermined, but who were predisposed against any foreign religious influence.

They next took advantage of the decay of the kingdom of Gujarat to occupy Chaul (1531), Bassein with its dependencies, including Bombay (1534), Diu (1535) and Daman (1559) But the inherent vices of their intolerant system undermined their power, even before their Dutch and English rivals appeared on the scene.

He retired from office to resume his practice of the law, but the burden of his official duties had undermined his health, and he died suddenly at Philadelphia on the 16th of June 1817.

Its perfection would, nevertheless, be undermined by the mobility of all its constituent parts.

The colonists were victorious, but their organization was undermined, and the authority of the crown, which had never been able to keep the peace, grew rapidly weaker.

On the other hand, he came to represent those aspects of Peripateticism most alien to the spirit of Christendom; and the deeply religious Moslem gave his name to the anti-sacerdotal party, to the materialists, sceptics and atheists, who defied or undermined the dominant beliefs of the church.

Then, the Tigris having undermined part of the city wall, he collected his wives and treasures and burned them with himself in his palace (880 B.C.).

Not the least of the anxieties of the colonial office during this period was the situation in the West Indies, where the canesugar industry was being steadily undermined by the European bounties given to exports of continental beet; and though the government restricted themselves to attempts at removing the bounties by negotiation and to measures for palliating the worst effects in the West Indies, Mr Chamberlain made no secret of his repudiation of the Cobden Club view that retaliation would be contrary to the doctrines of free trade, and he did his utmost to educate public opinion at home into understanding that the responsibilities of the mother country are not merely to be construed according to the selfish interests of a nation of consumers.

It was, first, the advance of the Hatti (Hittites) into Syria, which began in the time of Amen-hotep III., but became far more threatening in that of his successor, and next, the resumption of the second Arabian migration, which most seriously undermined the Egyptian power in Asia.

Ways of building on such complementarity need to be developed rather than undermined as is happening in many programs at present.

In agricultural areas, industrial tree plantations have undermined food security by usurping productive cropland and pastures.

The fixed exchange rate regime under which the two countries operated was undermined by the fiscal deficits that were run from the 1980s.

In the modern era, indigenous people have seen their land and resources stolen, and their cultures denigrated and undermined.

To do so " would have permanently undermined his position of power over her... such desolation could not be admitted " (194 ).

Many thought that the presence of lawyers undermined the relative informality of hearings and posed some difficulty for the lay panel members.

All these factors have undermined food crop yields, leaving the local communities malnourished.

Ending the national claim fragmented the unity and undermined the morale of the nursery nurses to a limited extent.

To a hidden most feds resist him waxing poetic effectively undermined the.

The inconsistency between the stated aims of the incapacity and the waiver applied in some cases undermined the rationality and logic of the measure.

This is undermined by its steadfast refusal to put its money where its mouth is.

The argument that the polls show a likely democratic takeover is somewhat undermined by these factors.

It can only be assumed that it was not made public because its findings undermined the tenets of global drug prohibition.

Punctuation was rejected, regular typography went out of the window, even recognizable verse forms were undermined.

However, his case is being fatally undermined by the soaring costs within the industry.