underground
Beneath the mainstream
The adjective and adverb underground is usually literal and the sum of its parts: it means under the ground.
Figurative use extends to things that are clandestine or not clearly visible, like the Underground Railroad that secretly transported slaves to freedom out of the Confederate South in the U.S. or the Weather Underground, a 20th century militant political organization.
In London, the system of subway trains is called the Underground.
Enclosed underground route
- cavernLarge natural underground chamber
- bunkerReinforced subterranean stronghold
- shaftNarrow vertical passage
- mineOre excavation site
cave · basement · cellar · vault · burrow · catacomb · grotto · subway
Urban rail transit
- subwayUnderground transit passage
- tubeHollow cylindrical passage
- stationFixed stopping point
- platformRaised flat structure
commute · train · rail · turnstile · track · passengers · carriage · conductor
Ore excavation site
- shaftNarrow vertical passage
- oreMetal-bearing rock
- quarryPit for extracting rock
- drillingHole-making by rotation
excavation · pit · mineral · coal · seam · colliery · extraction · vein
Armed uprising against authority
- guerrillaIrregular armed fighter
- rebellionDefiance of established power
- uprisingOrganized resistance to power
- clandestineConcealed from authorities
sabotage · partisan · dissident · covert · safehouse · smuggling · espionage · cell
Group with alternative norms
- alternativeAnother available choice
- indieProduced outside majors
- punkRaw, fast rock genre
- DIYAmateur home projects
zine · rave · scene · bohemian · fringe · outsider · nonconformist · avant-garde
Underground chamber for remains
- cryptSubterranean burial vault
- catacombUnderground cemetery passage
- graveSerious and worrying
- vaultSecure storage chamber
mausoleum · sepulcher · interment · coffin · sarcophagus · burial chamber · ossuary · necropolis
tunnel
Enclosed underground route
- cavernLarge natural underground chamber
- bunkerReinforced subterranean stronghold
- shaftNarrow vertical passage
mine · cave · basement · cellar · vault · burrow · catacomb · grotto · subway · metro
metro
Urban rail transit
platform · commute · train · rail · turnstile · track · passengers · carriage · conductor · depot
mine
Ore excavation site
drilling · excavation · pit · mineral · coal · seam · colliery · extraction · vein · tunnel
insurgency
Armed uprising against authority
- guerrillaIrregular armed fighter
- rebellionDefiance of established power
- uprisingOrganized resistance to power
clandestine · sabotage · partisan · dissident · covert · safehouse · smuggling · espionage · cell · network
subculture
Group with alternative norms
- alternativeAnother available choice
- indieProduced outside majors
- punkRaw, fast rock genre
DIY · zine · rave · scene · bohemian · fringe · outsider · nonconformist · avant-garde · experimental
tomb
Underground chamber for remains
vault · mausoleum · sepulcher · interment · coffin · sarcophagus · burial chamber · ossuary · necropolis · funerary
underworld
Realm of the departed
- HadesGreek afterlife realm
- netherworldRealm of the dead
- TartarusDeepest realm of punishment
Erebus · Gehenna · Persephone · Orpheus · Styx · afterlife · descent · chthonic
- Dystopia1984, Nineteen Eighty-Four, dystopian fiction, totalitarianism, Brave New World
- earth-relatedrock, stone, sand, mud, dirt
- espionagespy, spies, double agent, double agents, spying
- transitbus, subway, train, metro, light rail
- wartimerationing, war economy, war bonds, war effort, evacuations
- animal habitatsforest, jungle, desert, ocean, rainforest
undergroundaboveground
Not beneath the earth
surface · overhead · overground · above ground · sky
undergroundovert
Plainly apparent to all
open · public · visible · unconcealed · undisguised
undergroundmainstream
Dominant cultural current
aboveground · popular · commercial · establishment · conventional
- underground networksHidden interconnected systems below
- go undergroundEscape detection by hiding
- underground economyUnreported commercial activity
- underground movementSecret organized opposition
- going undergroundDescending beneath earth's surface
- underground bunkerReinforced subterranean refuge