undershoot

English

Etymology

From under- +‎ shoot.

Pronunciation

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Verb

undershoot (third-person singular simple present undershoots, present participle undershooting, simple past and past participle undershot)

1. To shoot not far enough or not well enough.
2. To not go far enough when trying to reach a goal.
3. (by extension) To underestimate.
   • 2014, Dave Schilling, One of Our Writers Went on an All-Alcohol Diet for a Week:

     The first day, I think I undershot how much I should've been drinking, because it had almost no effect on me.

   • 2020, Brendan Kirby, Experts made coronavirus forecasts in mid-March; they whiffed badly:

     Just weeks ago, however, America’s top epidemiologists badly undershot how quickly COVID-19 would spread.

Antonyms

• overshoot

Noun

undershoot (countable and uncountable, plural undershoots)

1. The situation where a neuron's membrane potential falls below the normal resting potential.
2. An instance of undershooting.
   • 1994, Peter B. Kenen, Francesco Papadia, Fabrizio Saccomanni, The International Monetary System, →ISBN, page 109:

     In this model, a fiscal or saving shock in one country leads to an overshoot of the real exchange rate between the two countries and of the real interest rate in the other country, and an undershoot of the real interest rate in the first country.

Anagrams

• honouredst