Underapply

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Applying a substance, rule, or measure to too small an extent or with insufficient force to achieve its intended effect
2. Using something in too limited a way, so that its full benefit or purpose is not realized
3. To put a treatment, principle, or method into practice less thoroughly than is needed for proper results

Etymology: "Underapply" is a plain combination of two English words: the prefix "under-", meaning "insufficiently" or "below the proper level," and "apply." The verb "apply" has a long pedigree. It traces back through Middle English "aplien" and Old French "apliier" to Latin "applicare," built from "ad-" ("to") and "plicare" ("to fold"), so its original sense was something like folding one thing onto another. That physical image of laying one object against another gradually gave rise to the familiar senses of putting a thing to use or bringing a rule to bear on a case. The prefix "under-" is native to English. It descends from Old English "under," which shares ancestry with Germanic words meaning "below" or "beneath," and it has been used in English compounds for centuries to mean "lower than" or "not enough." Attaching it to "apply" produces a word meaning to use, enforce, or implement something to too small a degree, as in a rule applied too leniently or a remedy applied too sparingly.