underway

See also: under way

English

Etymology 1

Calque of Dutch onderweg (“underway”), equivalent to under- +‎ way. Compare also German unterwegs.

Alternative forms

• under way

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌndə(ɹ)ˈweɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ

Adverb

underway (comparative more underway, superlative most underway)

1. In motion, in progress; being done or carried out; on a journey.
   • 2008 February 14, Steve Lohr, “Offshore Outsourcing’s Next Wave: How High?”, in NY Times‎^[1], retrieved 2012-01-22:

     The next wave, well underway, is shipping back-office business tasks overseas, ...

   • 2018 April 7, Andrew Dickinson, “In New Hampshire, the 2020 presidential race is already well underway”, in NBC News‎^[2], retrieved 2018-09-20:

     The political world might still be recovering from the 2016 presidential election and focusing now on the midterm fights for Congress, but here in the nation's first primary state the battle for 2020 is already well underway.

Translations

in motion, in progress; being done or carried out

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 在進行中的 / 在进行中的 (zh) (zài jìnxíng zhōng de)

• Danish: i gang
• Dutch: onderweg (nl)
• Finnish: käynnissä (fi), liikkeellä (fi), tekeillä (fi), työn alla, tulossa
• French: en cours (fr)
• German: im Gange, angelaufen (de), eingeleitet (de), laufend (de), unterwegs (de)
• Hungarian: folyamatban, (verbs) folyik (hu), zajlik (hu), halad (hu)
• Irish: ar bun, ar siúl
• Italian: in corso
• Japanese: 進行中で (ja) (しんこうちゅうで, shinkōchū de)
• Polish: w toku
• Portuguese: em andamento
• Russian: в проце́ссе (v procésse) (разрабо́тки, реализа́ции), в движе́нии (v dvižénii), ведётся (ru) (vedjótsja) (sg., passive form of "вестись"), веду́тся (ru) (vedútsja) (pl., passive form of "вестись")
• Spanish: en curso, en marcha, en progreso, siendo realizado, en proceso
• Swedish: på väg (sv), på gång (sv)
• Welsh: ar y gwëyll (literally “on the knitting needles”)

Etymology 2

From under +‎ way.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʌndə(ɹ)weɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

underway (plural underways)

1. A road, track, path, or street for going under another way or obstacle; an underpass.
   • 2005, Donovan L. Hofsommer, “Adrift”, in Minneapolis and the Age of Railways‎^[3], Univ. of Minnesota Press, →ISBN, page 152:

     As Minneapolis grew, the city demanded that M&StL construct "underways" beneath city roadways.

2. An underground passage, subway, tunnel.
   • 2004, Alan Goldfein, “A Wonderful Drive”, in Europe's Macadam, America's Tar: How America Really Compares to "Old Europe"‎^[4], American Editions, →ISBN, page 46:

     There are in fact many such subterranean underways in Germany, speeding traffic beneath bergs, burgs and villages and into and around and under big city downtowns ...

3. A voyage, especially underwater.
   • 2008, Alfred Scott McLaren, William R. Anderson, “To Severnaya Zemlya and the Beginning of the Shelf Survey”, in Unknown Waters: A First-Hand Account of the Historic Under-ice Survey of the Siberian Continental Shelf by USS Queenfish (SSN-651)‎^[5], Univ. of Alabama Press, →ISBN, page 179:

     I had been the diving officer on three previous submarines, …, and was an experienced officer of the deck with many underways and landings under my belt on all three.

Translations

road, track, path, or street for going under an obstacle

• Finnish: alikulku (fi)

underground passage, tunnel

• Finnish: alikulku (fi)
• German: Unterführung (de) f
• Hungarian: alagút (hu)

voyage, especially underwater

• Finnish: matka (fi)
• German: Unterwasser-Reise f, U-Boot-Fahrt (de) f