Undercurrent vs Undertow - What's the difference?
undercurrent | undertow |
a current which flows under the surface
(figuratively) A tendency of feeling or opinion that is concealed rather than exposed.
* George Eliot
:The meeting was pervaded with an undercurrent of dread, as the managers tried not to admit firings were looming.
*{{quote-news
, year=2012
, date=May 9
, author=Jonathan Wilson
, title=Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao
, work=the Guardian
To pull or tow under; drag beneath; pull down.
* 1914 , Denton Jaques Snider, Lincoln at Richmond :
To pull down by, or as by, an undertow.
* 1998 , Richard Gough, David Williams, Ric Allsopp, Performance Research: On Place :
* 2003 , Michael T. Leibig, Mike Leibig Traveling in Disguise :
To flow or behave as an undertow.
* 1917 , The Unpopular review:
A short-range flow of water returning seaward from the waves breaking on the shore.
(by extension) A feeling that runs contrary to one's normal one.
As nouns the difference between undercurrent and undertow
is that undercurrent is a current which flows under the surface while undertow is a short-range flow of water returning seaward from the waves breaking on the shore.As a verb undertow is
to pull or tow under; drag beneath; pull down.undercurrent
English
Noun
(en noun)- (Totten)
- All the while there was a busy undercurrent in her.
citation, page= , passage=Although the crowd was predominantly red-and-white, there was also a Romanian flavour, which these days in football terms tends to mean there is at least an undercurrent of discontent. }}
undertow
English
Verb
(en verb)- 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, [...]
- 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.
- I sink because I cannot swim, undertowed to the Centre, abandoning all remembrance of the surface toward the cloud of unknowing, without choice I'm pulled.
- 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
(en noun)- A strong undertow may sweep a returning swimmer off their feet but it does not carry them far from the shore.
