underseek

English

Etymology

From Middle English underseken, onderseken (also undersechen), from Old English undersēcan (“to investigate, examine”), equivalent to under- +‎ seek. Cognate with West Frisian ûndersykje (“to research”), Dutch onderzoeken (“to investigate, probe, examine”), German untersuchen (“to examine, investigate, explore”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

underseek (third-person singular simple present underseeks, present participle underseeking, simple past and past participle undersought)

1. (transitive) To examine; explore; investigate.
   • 2007, Michael Flynn, Eifelheim - Page 206:

     Hans parted his lips. "Underseeking your customs was the Kratzer's great work, and I have the sentence in my head that this example will please him. Perhaps.

2. (transitive) To spend too little time or effort in seeking.
   • 2007, Paul Richard Brezinski, Veteran Status, Health Status, and Use of Health Services - Page 24:

     Bindman et al. (1995) found that there is little propensity to underseek care for serious conditions indicating that need can be a substantial motive for the use ^[sic] health care services.

   • 2008, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Symposium: the domestic commander in chief - Page 1277:

     While basic economic theory predicts that all collective or public goods will be "underdemanded" due to collective action problems, the extent to which public goods are undersought is a function of the size of the group benefiting from the public good and the distribution of benefits within that group.