0 real but not immediately obvious:
And what might be the underlying significance of these supposedly random acts?
1 used to describe something on which something else is based:
The price of the investment fell below the value of the underlying assets.
2 positioned under the surface of something:
3 real but not immediately obvious:
The investigation focused on the underlying causes of the fire.
4 used to describe the shares, etc. to which something such as an option (= the right to buy or sell something in the future) relates:
5 used to describe the basic level or amount of something before anything else is added or taken away:
Underlying conditions are favourable.
They underestimated their underlying costs and ended up losing a lot of money.
Last year the company had underlying earnings of $10.6m on $34m sales.
On the surface it's a very funny novel but it does have a more serious underlying theme.
The underlying message of the film is that love transcends everything else.
We need to tackle the underlying causes of poverty and suffering.
It is important to look at all the underlying causes of the conflict.
