as in subordinate
one who is of lower rank and typically under the authority of another
the real estate tycoon has a whole army of underlings to attend to the details
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of underling
Don't bet on Trump paying the underling's fine, and that $1,000 a day could add up to well over $1,000,000 before Trump leaves office.
—
Justin Gest, Newsweek, 11 Feb. 2025
This is not an image of himself as Kier Eagan, but of Kier in blackface to appease a useful Black underling.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2025
His Cabinet nominees, Wiles told her underlings, according to two sources familiar with the call, were chosen to deliver on that promise.
—Eric Cortellessa, TIME, 20 Jan. 2025
No one’s clamoring to see a movie about a male exec happily bedding his female underling.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 24 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for underling
Justin Gest, Newsweek, 11 Feb. 2025
This is not an image of himself as Kier Eagan, but of Kier in blackface to appease a useful Black underling.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2025
His Cabinet nominees, Wiles told her underlings, according to two sources familiar with the call, were chosen to deliver on that promise.
—Eric Cortellessa, TIME, 20 Jan. 2025
No one’s clamoring to see a movie about a male exec happily bedding his female underling.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 24 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for underling
Recent Examples of Synonyms for underling
Noun
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More strangely, however, Wynn-Williams claims that Sandberg had a habit of crossing boundaries with her female subordinates.—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
21 Mar. 2025
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In one incident, the complaint alleges Jong was talking with subordinates about Dodgers baseball legend Fernando Valenzuela’s death from septic shock.—
Ryan Fonseca,
Los Angeles Times,
12 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Back in Montana, every trip Jacob and company take to Bozeman and back is inevitably fraught with peril — if not instigated by dastardly rich guy Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) and/or his henchman Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn), then by the pitiless nature of extreme weather.—
Matt Brennan,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Mar. 2025
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In Lynch’s festering neo-noir mystery from 1987, Hopper plays a chronic villain perpetually sipping from a tank of amyl nitrate and handing out hits as a way to manipulate his henchmen.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Tatlin scholarship is whispery on his time in Kyiv, for the excellent reason that Stalin’s minions torched most evidence of it.—
Jackson Arn,
The New Yorker,
10 Mar. 2025
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But the largest driving force behind the return-to-work mandates, suggest the early scholarship, is CEOs feeling lonely without minions.—
Dan Vergano,
Scientific American,
12 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Underling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/underling. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025.
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