beneath

*beneath something

under something. (*Typically: be ~; sit ~.) What is that beneath the table? The cat is beneath the piano.

beneath someone

too shameful for a polite person to do. That kind of thing is beneath Fred. I'm appalled that he did it. That sort of foul language is beneath you!

beneath contempt

exceedingly contemptible. What you have done is beneath contempt. Your rude behavior is beneath contempt.

See also: contempt

beneath one's dignity

too rude or coarse for a polite person to do. That kind of thing is beneath my dignity, and I hope yours as well. I would have thought something like that to be beneath your dignity.

See also: dignity

fall beneath something

to drop under something. The thimble fell beneath the sofa. The gift that Bob had purchased for Maggie fell beneath the wheels of a truck.

See also: fall

feel it beneath (one) (to do something)

to feel that one would be lowering oneself to do something. Tom feels it beneath him to scrub the floor. Ann feels it beneath her to carry her own luggage. I would do it, but I feel it beneath me.

See also: feel

marry below oneself and marry beneath oneself

Fig. to marry someone in a lower social class than oneself. He married beneath himself, but he is happy, and what more is required of a marriage? He did not want to marry beneath himself.

See also: below, marry, oneself

pin someone or something beneath (someone, something or an animal)

to trap someone or something beneath someone, an animal, or something. The mine cave-in pinned four miners beneath a beam. I held the alligator's mouth closed and pinned it beneath me.

See also: pin

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fall off/drop off the radar  also drop beneath the/somebody's radar

to be forgotten or ignored, often because someone's attention is on something more important I was so busy at work, organising a summer holiday just dropped off the radar.

See also: fall, radar

marry beneath your station  (old-fashioned)

to marry someone who belongs to a lower social class than you Her father, who felt that she had married beneath her station, refused to speak to her.

See also: marry, station