underlie

/ˌʌndəlˈa‍ɪ/

/ˌəndɝˈɫaɪ/

[verb]

to underlie

[VERB]

MAIN VERB

to serve as the foundation or primary cause for something

to be positioned below or beneath something

Examples

1. Trying to make a poorly designed website look better with a new color scheme is like putting lipstick on a pig - it won't fix the underlying issues.

2. The company is trying to improve their public image through a new advertising campaign, but it's just putting a lipstick on a pig - they need to address the underlying problems.

3. Ongoing neural activity also underlies our sensory perception.

4. And those things underlie the force of this idea.