underground
- Top 5000
Sense 1
- noun
- B1
A railway system that carries people around a city through tunnels below the streets.
Take the underground to the museum; it is only three stops.
The underground runs every three minutes during the morning rush hour.
Long escalators carried the crowd down to the underground platforms.
Common collocations: take the underground · on the underground · underground station · underground map · the underground network
Part of: Means of transport, Airports and stations
Sense 2
- adjective
- B2
Placed or happening below the surface of the earth.
Our block of flats has an underground car park for residents.
Thick electric cables run underground along the whole street.
Miners spend eight hours a day working underground in the dark.
Common collocations: underground car park · underground tunnel · underground cables · underground water · go underground
Part of: Buildings and places, Directions
Sense 3 · less common
- adjective
- C1
Kept secret from the government or the public, or standing outside the usual, accepted world of art and music.
The band spent years playing in small underground clubs.
An underground newspaper secretly printed articles the government had banned.
Underground artists rarely appear on television or in big galleries.
Common collocations: underground movement · underground music scene · the underground press · underground club · go underground
Part of: Music, Media, Attitudes and opinions