aboveground

adjective

above·​ground ə-ˈbəv-ˌgrau̇nd 

1

: located or occurring on or above the surface of the ground

2

: existing, produced, or published by or within the establishment

aboveground movies

aboveground adverb

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

On a block lined with six-story apartment buildings in northern Manhattan, the street could get a dozen large aboveground containers — artist renderings suggest a cross between a dumpster and a giant laundry bin — placed in parking spaces. —Emma G. Fitzsimmons, New York Times, 3 May 2023

Those layers, in turn, will sit deep inside the Sardinian cave, protecting the delicate apparatus from every possible influence of the aboveground world. —Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 24 Apr. 2023

The decision to move parking underground frees up aboveground space that will be used to create a park area and plazas, while directing some pickup and drop-off traffic below ground, reducing congestion off Columbus Circle. —Luz Lazo, Washington Post, 16 June 2022

After 20 or more years, their seniority had rewarded them with aboveground jobs, delivering parts and equipment around the complex. —Stephen Rodrick, Rolling Stone, 21 Feb. 2023

In 2016, University of Tübingen archaeologist Ramadan Hussein, who died in the spring of 2022, identified shallow aboveground pits where the dead would have been covered in natron, a salt mixture used to dry out the body after death. —Byandrew Curry, science.org, 1 Feb. 2023

Scores of aboveground tests soon followed, with some even rocketed into the stratosphere. —Damian Carrington, WIRED, 14 Jan. 2023

The project includes an aboveground parking garage with nearly 1,000 spaces and 362 parking spaces beneath the buildings. —Catherine Carlock, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Dec. 2022

Building on permafrost requires gravel pads that protect the ice from melting, and aboveground pipes. —Emily Witt, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2022

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Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

aboveground

adjective

above·​ground ə-ˈbəv-ˌgrau̇nd 

: located or happening on or above the surface of the ground

an aboveground swimming pool