Underincrease

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To raise something in quantity or degree by less than is needed or expected
2. To grow or enlarge a figure, level or amount only slightly, falling short of the intended rise
3. Making a rise in size, value or strength that proves insufficient for the purpose intended

Etymology: "Underincrease" is a straightforward formation: the prefix "under-", meaning insufficiently or too little, attached to "increase." "Increase" came into English in the late 14th century, borrowed from Old French "encreistre," itself from Latin "increscere," meaning to grow or grow up, built from "in-" (in or on) and "crescere" (to grow). The Latin root "crescere" also gave English "crescent," "crescendo," and "accrue." "Under-" is an old Germanic element in English, descended from Old English "under," meaning beneath or below, and it developed the sense of "insufficiently" in compounds such as "underpay" and "undercook." The combination is a modern, rarely used coinage, and it appears mainly in economic and statistical writing, where an output or price is said to have failed to rise as much as expected.