Undergo
Verb
Pronunciation and accent: ʌndəgəʊ
Etymology: it is analysable into under- and go.
Preterite tense: underwent
Preterite participle: undergone
Present participle: undergoing
Third-person singular simple present: undergoes
Transitively:
Obsolete and pristine uses: a. To go, or move under or underneath. b. To undermine
Still in general use:
First definition (The subject is a person or other animal): to have the experience of; to be consciously affected by (something unpleasant, as danger, etc.)
Antonyms: to evade, shun, forgo, avoid, eschew
Synonyms: to feel, experience, suffer
It may be translated by sufrir in Spanish; subir, in French; subire, in Italian
In this expedition he underwent many dangers and difficulties, without any profit, but returned safe to Falmouth.
Robert Kerr (… Voyages and Travels)
[…] the bore of undergoing his eloquence is really becoming insufferable.
The Spectator, Volume 13
In every contemplation our curiosity must be first excited by the appearances of things, before our reason undergoes the fatigue of investigating the causes.
Oliver Goldsmith (Letters from a citizen…)
[…] it was late before they retired, […] to take that rest of which, after the doubt and suspense they had recently undergone, they stood much in need.
Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist)
Second definition (The subject is something or someone): to be subjected to; to be the object of (an action, or a process, as an inspection, an examination, etc.)
I have finished four acts, and part of the fifth of a tragedy […].The few friends who have seen it express the strongest approbation of the fable, the conduct, the situations, and diction; but as their praises may be addressed rather to my diffidence than to the merits of the piece, I must remain in a state of uncertainty till it undergoes your inspection.
David Garrick (The Private Correspondence)
Heat or fire is a violent agent, which changes all bodies that undergo its action.
The Farmer's Magazine
[…] earth has undergone any considerable refrigeration, it must also have undergone a contraction of dimensions.
Robert Bakewell (An Introduction to Geology)
[…] although the storm continued, the temperatures underwent an extraordinary change.
Elisha Kane (Arctic explorations) vol. II
[…] the air became quite still, and the snow underwent a wonderful change.
John Tyndall (The Glaciers of the Alps)
His eyes were abnormally large, and round like those of a cat. The pupils, too, upon any accession or diminution of light, underwent contraction or dilation, just such as is observed in the feline tribe.
Edgar Poe
My notice was soon afterwards attracted by the duskyred appearance of the moon, and the peculiar character of the sea. The latter was undergoing a rapid change, and the water seemed more than usually transparent.
Edgar Poe
This process is facilitated by certain remarkable changes of colour which appear in it [steel] as it undergoes this process of a second heating.
Henry Moseley (Illustrations of mechanics)
A friend of hers (by name, Mr. M-y) was invited by her to accept the accommodation of her house, while his own underwent some necessary repair.
Elizabeth Burgess (… Betty Bolaine)
After he had gone, Randal, being left alone, underwent a change of mood.
Catherine Bement (Spinner of Webs)
The wine had evidently produced in them a species of delirium, which, perhaps, I had been prevented from feeling by the immersion I had undergone since drinking it.
Edgar Poe
We reached the landing about five, but with the delay at the barrier, by the custom-house officers, who are very strict, where we underwent the most rigid scrutiny and overhauling our baggage, which is excessively annoying
C. T. Cromwell (Over the ocean)
The fellow made no answer, but eyed me from head to foot with a look a puzzled incredulity. I was rapidly losing my temper while undergoing his inspection, and was about repeating the assault, when in a half audible voice he ejaculated…
Bentley's Miscellany, Volume 9
[…] after undergoing many romantic adventures, not unlike those of Charles the Second, he [Charles Edward] escaped to France.
Charles Dickens (A child’s history)
Many of our farm implements have undergone improvement ; yet there are others which have been either but partially introduced, or are hardly known, that are calculated to abridge labor and to increase the profits of the farm.
Thomas Fessenden (The New England Farmer)
Derived from undergo: undergoing
