1
as in fraudulent
given to or marked by cheating and deception
willing to stoop to underhand methods in order to win
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in clandestine
undertaken or done so as to escape being observed or known by others
the congressman's underhand attempt to slip several pork barrel items into the bill
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in underhanded
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of underhand
Nick Miller, The Athletic, 26 July 2024
Grip the bar with an underhand grip, palms facing you, and your hands just wider than shoulder-width apart.
—Amy Marturana Winderl, SELF, 9 Oct. 2024
Anthony Gharib, USA TODAY, 13 June 2023
Pitchers tossed underhand and no one wore gloves yet, resulting in smarting pain in the hands of catchers and first basemen.
—Jeff Suess, The Enquirer, 29 Mar. 2023
See All Example Sentences for underhand
Adjective
There is something rather underhand about trying to spy on an opponent’s preparation.
—Nick Miller, The Athletic, 26 July 2024
Grip the bar with an underhand grip, palms facing you, and your hands just wider than shoulder-width apart.
—Amy Marturana Winderl, SELF, 9 Oct. 2024
Adverb
Each team will alternate tossing the bean bag underhand onto the board until all four bean bags are thrown.
—Anthony Gharib, USA TODAY, 13 June 2023
Pitchers tossed underhand and no one wore gloves yet, resulting in smarting pain in the hands of catchers and first basemen.
—Jeff Suess, The Enquirer, 29 Mar. 2023
See All Example Sentences for underhand
Recent Examples of Synonyms for underhand
Adjective
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Affected individuals may be vulnerable to identity theft, fraudulent account openings and targeted phishing attempts.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
25 Apr. 2025
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Any email platform is exposed to this kind of attack, with scammers using fraudulent alerts and malicious links to entrap victims.—
Davey Winder,
Forbes.com,
25 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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He was allegedly held in a clandestine detention site and tortured by intelligence agents.—
Antonio Maria Delgado,
Miami Herald,
30 Apr. 2025
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Guests can order craft cocktails at the circular bar, and for those who indulge, there’s a small, clandestine cigar room just off the entrance.—
John Wogan,
Travel + Leisure,
23 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Without resources or expertise to vet influencers properly, these companies become vulnerable to deceptive practices.—
Matthew Kayser,
USA Today,
27 Apr. 2025
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In 2022, the California DMV sued Tesla, saying the company engaged in deceptive marketing and advertising practices around its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems.—
Lora Kolodny,
CNBC,
25 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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After the unexpected death of the pope, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running the covert process of choosing a new leader.—
Saman Shafiq,
USA Today,
22 Apr. 2025
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Those documents gave curious readers more details about Cold War-era covert U.S. operations in other nations, but did not initially lend credence to long-circulating conspiracy theories about who killed JFK.—
Josh Funk and Haya Panjwani,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The mood shifts from shady to straight-up scandalous.—
Shelby Stewart,
Essence,
21 Apr. 2025
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Instead, Fenix lost the biggest match of his young WWE career, albeit under shady circumstances, while Americano picked up a WrestleMania win.—
Blake Oestriecher,
Forbes.com,
20 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Evans' latest film, Havoc, stars Tom Hardy as Walker, an unsavory fixer tasked with protecting the son of real estate tycoon Lawrence Beaumont (Forest Whitaker) after the kid stumbles into a plot involving the Yakuza, crooked cops, and other assorted goons.—
Randall Colburn,
EW.com,
26 Apr. 2025
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Rooker plays Steve, a crooked detective with a ruthless streak who holds the key to Hammer’s only weakness.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
17 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The Han Solo bon mot is reminiscent of Diego Luna's confusion when he is asked about smoothing some of Cassian Andor's rougher edges to go undercover as fashion designer Varian Skye in the second block of Andor season 2 episodes.—
Maureen Lee Lenker,
EW.com,
1 May 2025
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Next up, he’s set to star alongside Bryce Dallas Howard and Sean Bean in the action comedy Deep Cover, about a group of improv actors who are asked to go undercover.—
Keith Langston,
People.com,
15 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The cruelty of his dishonest sham, founded on disdain for the autistic community and aimed at parents of autistic children, defies decency.—
Dan Vergano,
Scientific American,
23 Apr. 2025
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Blanketing our communities with descriptions that focus solely on crime is dishonest and hinders our efforts to achieve peace, especially those of us who have survived the unthinkable loss of a loved one to murder.—
Clementina Chery,
Boston Herald,
13 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Underhand.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/underhand. Accessed 4 May. 2025.
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