undertow

English

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

undertow

verb undertows · undertowing · undertowed

transitive To pull or tow under; drag beneath; pull down. Off in a gallop the General wheeled vanishing, And sped his steed away into the blue, When Lineoln now alone let go his speech Which had before been undertowed by force, [...]
transitive To pull down by, or as by, an undertow. A sense that the air, a sighting of muddy river, or that outcrop of rock so implacably bland in the light of midday, is undertowed by memory.
intransitive To flow or behave as an undertow. Everybody knows this and acts accordingly; but when you say it, it sounds bad and bold, and makes you uncomfortable to hear it, because the puritan blood is still undertowing in your veins.

noun undertows

A short-range flow of water returning seaward from the waves breaking on the shore. A strong undertow may sweep a returning swimmer off their feet but it does not carry them far from the shore.
broadly A feeling that runs contrary to one's normal one.

Translations

Every language

noun flow of water

Español	resaca
中文	退波 tuìbō
Français	courant de retour, reflux
Deutsch	Sog, hinausziehende Strömung, Gegenströmung, Unterwasserströmung
Italiano	risacca
Ελληνικά	αντιμάμαλο antimámalo

noun feeling

Español	contracorriente

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"undertow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/undertow. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

undertow. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/undertow

Chicago

"undertow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/undertow.

BibTeX

@misc{undertow_2026,
  title = {undertow},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/undertow},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}