How to Use undertow in a Sentence

undertow

noun
  • Don't get caught in the undertow.
  • There is an undertow of black and blue fruit—a wine clafoutis.
    — Tom Mullen, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2021
  • There’s this weird undertow of fear and nobody knows what this fear is now.
    — Chris Payne, Billboard, 15 Nov. 2017
  • But winds of 30 mph and a strong undertow sucked them away from shore.
    — Tom Jackman, Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2020
  • This result was that a wave crashed down on me, the undertow pulling me and the board down.
    — Seth Combs, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Sep. 2022
  • There were so many spirals in the current of the river, and many undertows.
    — Krista Stevens, Longreads, 22 May 2018
  • To exist at all is to feel the clock-steady undertow of inertia.
    — Literary Hub, 9 Mar. 2026
  • But that way, in these songwriters’ hands, lies glibness and the undertow of camp.
    — Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, 1 Oct. 2021
  • Pause, cut the message down to what is clear and kind, then respond from the present instead of the undertow.
    — Tarot.com, The Orlando Sentinel, 15 May 2026
  • The ship sank in 90 minutes, its undertow dragging many with it.
    — Washington Post, 8 June 2021
  • Full of humor and pathos, and with a quiet, melancholy undertow.
    — Riza Cruz, ELLE, 23 Feb. 2022
  • This is truest in Point Breeze, where the undertow of class and race are added into the mix.
    — Tom Ferrick, Philly.com, 17 Oct. 2017
  • Regression to the mean is a universal undertow in sports and in life.
    — Jordan Brenner, The Athletic, 14 July 2024
  • Dimitri was ready to finally let the drugs carry him away, like an undertow.
    — Jonathan Reiss, Rolling Stone, 10 May 2021
  • An undertow pulls under the surface, while a rip current flows out, not under.
    — Teddy Maiorca, Jennifer Borresen, Dinah Voyles Pulver, and Carlie Procell, USA TODAY, 28 June 2023
  • An undertow pulls under the surface, while a rip current flows out, not under.
    — Jennifer Borresen, USA TODAY, 24 June 2024
  • The writing is taut, with a percussive, rhythmic undertow that pulls you right in.
    — Riza Cruz, ELLE, 23 Feb. 2022
  • And there’s always the undertow — that chance of ending up in deeper waters.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 15 Feb. 2022
  • But there are indications of an undertow and factors that might increase it in the years ahead.
    — Rich Lowry, National Review, 22 Oct. 2021
  • This was the milieu in which Sui began her life as an adult, dazzling and askew, all the brighter for its dark undertow.
    — Susan Dominus Photographs By Joshua Kissi Styled By Ian Bradley Sasha Weiss Photographs By Collier Schorr Styled By Jay Massacret Megan O’Grady Portrait By Mickalene Thomas and Racquel Chevremont Ligaya Mishan Photographs By Tina Barney, New York Times, 14 Oct. 2021
  • And then the voice takes on an undertow which is unforgettable in its precision.
    — Literary Hub, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Nor do these men and women consciously will their own failure, but in each case a dark undertow yanks them away from success.
    — Stephen Galloway, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Aug. 2019
  • Yet there was an unnamed undertow, something coiled at the bottom of the dark lake of Knausgaard's soul.
    — John Timpane, Philly.com, 4 June 2018
  • There is a particular undertow of unease that comes with working all day at a desk and then playing video games at night.
    — Gabriel Winslow-Yost, The New York Review of Books, 3 Aug. 2022
  • But no matter how many drug users start on the path to healing, others remain caught in the undertow of addiction.
    — Beth Warren, The Courier-Journal, 27 Apr. 2017
  • While rescuing a man who had gone over the dam, they were caught in the undertow created by water rushing over the dam.
    — Sarah Freishtat, Aurora Beacon-News, 28 July 2017
  • Not long after, the children realized they were caught in an undertow and struggling to get back to safety.
    — Abigail Adams, Peoplemag, 23 Feb. 2023
  • But Shults' scenes of house parties and electric-blue beach dusks are tinged with an undertow of dread, danger and melancholy.
    — Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Aug. 2019
  • But the waves can be higher and the undertow stronger during the winter months when high surf warnings frequently occur.
    — Michael Cabanatuan, SFChronicle.com, 19 Jan. 2021
  • In both Afire and Showing Up, this snarling undertow is played to perfection.
    — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Dec. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'undertow.' 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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