Wiktionary
n. The act or process by which something is undermined. vb. (present participle of undermine English)
Wikipedia
Undermining (also known as removal of the guard, or removing the defender) is a chess tactic in which a defensive piece is captured, leaving one of the opponent's pieces undefended or under-defended. The opponent has the unpalatable choice of recapturing or saving the undefended piece. A possible response is to sacrifice the piece whose defense is being undermined before capturing the piece which just took the defender.
Usage examples of "undermining".
The evil genius, Sacripant, may be the first, as Iago is the greatest, of that school of villains whose treachery finds expression in the deliberate undermining of true love by forged proofs of infidelity.
Rosicrucians, Cabalists, Hussites, Giordanistiheretics who for years had been undermining the power not only of the Habsburgs but of the Pope as wellset the tocsins ringing all over Europe.
As an ever-increasing number of prospective students were wooed by high-tech careers in biochemistry and genetics, the shortage of classically trained archivists, taxonomists, and systematists big-picture researchers was in danger of undermining the entire foundation of biological science.
Arab publics against the allied responses is undermining both their standing in the region and other aspects of containment.
Thus, for Saddam, giving up his WMD programs could create major threats to his regime by undermining its military power and its claims to legitimacy.
We would not have to worry about Saddam striking any of our regional allies, destroying or seizing their oil fields, supporting terrorism, or undermining the Arab-Israeli peace process and other initiatives to build a better Middle East.
The most immediate concerns of the Arab governments are not revolutions but undermining their own legitimacy by highlighting the fact that the regimes do not necessarily reflect the will of the ruled.
WMD programs and either undermining the sanctions or having them lifted would be a lengthy process and he would have to be patient.
By undermining his confidence, he again worried that maybe he had erred in administering the anesthesia that fateful day.
What clever remarks aimed at undermining Faye might the bru nette plant without Tariq even realising it?
As soon as the contact with Channa was over, Nerlin intended to start undermining a few of Reinals allegiances.
The fact that politics weighed so heavily in every decision simply did not compute for Rapp. It should not have come as a surprise to him that in a town like Washington and in a place like the White House, politics played such an important role but, in an irritating and undermining way, it did.
When darkness fell, the armadillos instantly burrowed out, and within a few years armadillos were undermining golf greens and dumping over citrus trees from St.
It behoved him to be a good deal at Barchester, canvassing the electors and undermining, by Mr Nearthewinde's aid, the mines for blowing him out of his seat, which were daily being contrived by Mr Closerstil, on behalf of Sir Roger.
America became a polyglot of languages, cuisines, and religious beliefs, undermining the old standard of British American ethnicity and replacing it with a kaleidoscope of cultural norms.