undercurrent
Other forms: undercurrents
An undercurrent is a mood or atmosphere just below the surface, like the undercurrent of anxiety in your school during final exams.
The figurative meaning of undercurrent is more common than its literal definition, "an ocean current that runs beneath the surface of the water." Another word for this kind of undercurrent is a "subsurface current." When most of us use the word undercurrent, however, we're talking about a general state of mind, something that subtly influences the way people feel, like the undercurrent of suspense running through a good horror movie.
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a subdued emotional quality underlying an utterance; implicit meaning
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a current below the surface of a fluid
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Vocabulary lists containing undercurrent
As you read Anna Quindlen's "A Quilt of a Country," learn this word list. Here are links to lists for texts in Grade 9's Collection 1: A Quilt of a Country, Once Upon a Time, Rituals of Memory, The Gettysburg Address
In this classic horror novel, Jack Torrance takes a job as a caretaker at the Overlook Hotel, where he and his family are tormented by the hotel's haunting influence.
In the aftermath of World War II, two families come to terms with their involvement in the manufacture of faulty airplane parts that caused the deaths of many soldiers.