go under

verb

went under; gone under; going under; goes under

intransitive verb

1

: sink entry 1 sense 1a

The ship went under in the storm.

2

: to be overwhelmed, destroyed, or defeated : fail

The company went under during the recession.

Examples of go under in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

One person floating the river with a group went under the water and did not resurface, BFD said. — Rachel Roberts, Idaho Statesman, 4 July 2026

Small carriers on both sides of the Atlantic, including Mexico's Magnicharters and Switzerland's Air Mountain, have gone under since then, largely tied to a spike in jet fuel prices this year. — Christopher Elliott, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026

One man went under water and did not resurface, officials said in a news release. — Shambhavi Rimal, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 June 2026

Participants must be able to swim 10 feet without touching the bottom and be comfortable going under water. — Post-Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 29 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1820, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for go under

• asunder
• blunder
• bunder
• funder
• plunder
• sunder
• thunder