underlie

From Wiktionary
underlie is on the Academic Word List.

Pronunciation[change]

Verb[change]

Plain form
underlie

Third-person singular
underlies

Past tense
underlay

Past participle
underlain

Present participle
underlying

  1. (transitive) If underlies , causes ; is the reason for .
    Poor education underlies much of the crime and violence in our society.
  2. (transitive) If underlies , is the basis for or the most important part of .
    The basic principle underlying the argument is that we can know what each of the parts is.