undertow
/ˈʌndɚtˌoʊ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.43 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A short-range flow of water returning seaward from the waves breaking on the shore.
noun
A feeling that runs contrary to one's normal one.
Example Sentences
- "Off in a gallop the General wheeled vanishing, And sped his steed away into the blue, When Lineoln now alone let go his speech Which had before been undertowed by force, [...]"
- "A sense that the air, a sighting of muddy river, or that outcrop of rock so implacably bland in the light of midday, is undertowed by memory."
- "I sink because I cannot swim, undertowed to the Centre, abandoning all remembrance of the surface toward the cloud of unknowing, without choice I'm pulled."
- "Everybody knows this and acts accordingly; but when you say it, it sounds bad and bold, and makes you uncomfortable to hear it, because the puritan blood is still undertowing in your veins."
- "A strong undertow may sweep a returning swimmer off their feet but it does not carry them far from the shore."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Indo-European *-tér Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér Proto-Indo-European *h₂én Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *-dʰi ? Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰí Proto-Indo-European *-ér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér Proto-Germanic *under Proto-West Germanic *undar Old English under- Middle English under- English under- English tow English undertow From under- + tow.