How to Use underfund in a Sentence

underfund

verb
  • When a scheme is underfunded, one of three things can happen.
    — The Economist, 14 Nov. 2019
  • My sense is that for a state as large and complex as ours, it’s just been underfunded for decades.
    — Jill Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 May 2018
  • These scores are a reflection of the fact that our schools are underfunded.
    — Liz Bowie, baltimoresun.com, 22 Aug. 2017
  • Teacher pension costs have been underfunded by the state for decades.
    — Denise Coffey, Courant Community, 5 Sep. 2017
  • But we are still faced with a massive obligation that is underfunded.
    — Dennis Keene, Cincinnati.com, 20 Aug. 2017
  • Ervin disagreed with the rest of the field’s analysis that schools are underfunded.
    — Erin Cox, baltimoresun.com, 31 May 2018
  • Oklahoma has always been a low-tax state that underfunds public services….
    — Simon Montlake, The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Oct. 2017
  • They may already be underfunded by nearly half a trillion dollars.
    — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 25 Jan. 2018
  • Providers stressed that while the current spending cuts are a shock, Idaho has long underfunded substance abuse treatment.
    — Audrey Dutton, idahostatesman, 17 Jan. 2018
  • This suggests the campaign is underfunded and can only afford focus-group testing left over from the Coolidge years.
    — James Lileks, National Review, 5 Dec. 2019
  • Yet for years, the authority, underfunded and overlooked, has been crumbling.
    — New York Times, 1 June 2018
  • The biggest issue the IRS faces in on the resources, being just underfunded for a long time.
    — Washington Post, 8 Jan. 2020
  • The state's pension systems are only underfunded by $135 billion, so why not?
    — Dan McCaleb, Daily Southtown, 7 June 2019
  • Bevin had a running feud with teachers who opposed his efforts to revamp the state’s underfunded public pension systems.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 11 Nov. 2019
  • Sign-up But many programs are underfunded and localities are struggling to pay retirees.
    — WSJ, 9 Feb. 2019
  • When schools are underfunded, teachers are underpaid, and classrooms are overcrowded, the stresses placed on schools become too much to bear.
    — Valerie Strauss, Washington Post, 8 May 2018
  • Much could be done to shore up old buildings, but that is invariably expensive — and most park services and heritage agencies are badly underfunded.
    — Justin Gillis, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2017
  • Thus far, the agency, which oversees much busier skies than New Zealand and has long been underfunded, has been slow to adopt rules for new technologies.
    — Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2018
  • High-risk pools were big money losers and underfunded in the pre-Obamacare days, even though many had restrictions, high premiums and waiting lists.
    — Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, 4 May 2017
  • Sheriffs' housing for state inmates has been underfunded in the state budget by lawmakers and governors for several years in a row.
    — Julia O'Donoghue, NOLA.com, 9 Apr. 2018
  • Many states’ pension gaps are the result of fiscal strains that prompted them to underfund their annual pension contributions in recent years.
    — Los Angeles Times, 24 Apr. 2020
  • The company could pay its bills, but its cushion was getting thin, and heavy cash requirements loomed, such as restocking a pension fund that was underfunded by billions.
    — Geoff Colvin, Fortune, 24 May 2018
  • But those changes were criticized in the report as underfunded, widely ignored in Parliament and too feeble to rein in lawmakers.
    — Benjamin Mueller, New York Times, 11 July 2019
  • The Department of Energy’s job cleaning up nuclear waste is underfunded and will take decades more to complete.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 5 Feb. 2019
  • Critics of ESAs argue the program is part of a broader strategy to underfund the public-school system.
    — Rob O'Dell, azcentral, 10 Apr. 2018
  • Information from the school system on Issue 8 had pointed out that the state’s allocation per pupil is underfunded.
    — Linda Gandee/special To Cleveland.com, cleveland, 6 Nov. 2019
  • The National Health Service is underfunded, leading to long wait times for emergency and routine care.
    — Libby Watson, The New Republic, 12 Dec. 2019
  • Pushed aside for years by countries who underfunded it and only gave it the time of day when faced with a deadly health emergency, the WHO now has a good chance to make a strong case for itself.
    — Annabelle Timsit, Quartz, 24 Apr. 2020
  • Start with the short-term thinkers on Beacon Hill who neglected the transit system for decades, underfunding it and failing to plan for the region’s expanding needs until too late.
    — Yvonne Abraham, BostonGlobe.com, 15 June 2019
  • After next year’s boost, Colorado will underfund its schools by $672 million a year versus what’s required by the state Constitution.
    — Washington Post, 26 Apr. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'underfund.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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