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Underhand vs Ulterior - What's the difference?

underhand | ulterior |

As adjectives the difference between underhand and ulterior

is that underhand is secret; clandestine while ulterior is situated beyond, or on the farther side.

As an adverb underhand

is with an underhand movement.

underhand

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • secret; clandestine
  • (by extension) dishonest and sneaky; done in a secret or sly manner
  • thrown (etc.) with the hand brought forward and up from below

    • Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • with an underhand movement
  • in a sly, sneaky or secret manner

    • ulterior

    English

    Alternative forms

    * ulteriour (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Situated beyond, or on the farther side.
  • Beyond what is obvious or evident.
  • Being intentionally concealed so as to deceive.
  • * 1956–1960 , (second edition, 1960), chapter ii: “Motives and Motivation”, page 32:
    • Motives, of course, may be mixed; but this only means that a man aims at a variety of goals by means of the same course of action. Similarly a man may have a strong motive or a weak one, an ulterior motive or an ostensible one.
  • (label) Happening later; subsequent.
  • :an ulterior action
  • * 1840 , in The Chemist , volume 1, page 141:
    • A rather deep red coloration, which appears by the action of the first bubbles of chlorine, but which soon disappears by the ulterior action of this gas

    Usage notes

    Ulterior is primarily used today to mean impure, covert, external motives, and generally not opposed to etymological antonyms. In the comparative sense “beyond, farther”, the Latin antonym is , which is not used in English (compare (m)/(m) for “nearest/farthest (cause etc.)”). In the sense “after, subsequent”, it can be opposed to (m), but the sense “after” is now archaic (compare (m)/(m) for “first/last”).

    Derived terms

    * ulterior motive

    Antonyms

    *

    Related terms

    * ultimate * ultra * ultra-

    External links

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