Look closely at the word UNDERMINE. It literally means “to dig under a mine and thus weaken it.” When an author UNDERMINES an argument, he or she weakens it. For example, Thomas Jefferson used the Declaration of Independence to UNDERMINE or weaken belief in the divine right of kings.
UNDERMINE is a High-Frequency word that has appeared as an answer to vocabulary in context questions on the June 2025, November 2025, and June 2026 SATs. Let’s take a look:
