underbade
Definition
- Verb (past tense of underbid):
- To bid lower than another: "underbade" is the past tense form of "underbid," meaning to offer a price or bid that is less than a competitor's bid, especially in an auction or contract negotiation.
- To declare a lower value in a card game: In games like bridge, "underbade" means to make a bid that is lower than the value of one's hand or lower than an opponent's bid.
Usage Examples
- In an auction context:
- The contractor underbade his rival by $10,000 to win the construction project. (He offered a lower price than the competitor to secure the job.)
- In a card game context:
- She underbade her hand, causing her team to lose the round. (She made a bid that was too low relative to the strength of her cards.)
Advanced Usage
- "to underbid someone": to offer a lower price than another person in a competitive bidding situation.
- The company underbade all other firms for the government contract. (It submitted the lowest price among all competitors.)
Variants and Related Words
- Underbid (verb): the base form; to bid lower than another.
- He tends to underbid in auctions to save money. (He habitually offers lower bids.)
- Underbidder (noun): a person who makes a lower bid than another.
- The underbidder was disappointed when the item sold for more than his offer. (The person who made the lower bid was unhappy.)
Synonyms
- Outbid: to bid higher than another (antonym of underbid).
- Undersell: to sell at a lower price than a competitor.
- Lowball: to deliberately offer a very low price.
Related Idioms
- To bid low: to offer a price that is less than the expected or competing value.
- He always bids low at estate sales, hoping to get a bargain. (He offers low prices to get deals.)
Phrasal Verbs
- Underbid for: to offer a lower price for something.
- They underbade for the antique vase, but the seller refused. (They made a low offer for the vase.)