Undercommend

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To give less praise or approval than someone or something deserves
2. To fail to acknowledge or recognize the merits of something adequately
3. To offer insufficient commendation for the worth or quality of a person or thing

Etymology: Undercommend is a transparent formation: the prefix under-, meaning "too little" or "below what is right," attached to commend. English has long used the same pattern for comparisons of worth, as in undervalue, underrate, and underestimate. The base verb has a surprising past. It comes from Latin "commendare," meaning to entrust something to someone's care, built from com- and "mandare," to hand over or commit. Praise developed later as a figurative extension of placing a person or thing in good hands, and by the late Middle Ages English used commend for both recommending and praising. So the prefix attaches to a meaning of approval that grew out of the older sense of entrusting.