Is 'beneath' common nowadays?

Question

Hi, friends!Is that word commonly used these days? Or is it out of date? What is its difference from 'under'?

Philip · Accepted Answer

RuslanaHi, friends! Is that word commonly used these days? Or is it out of date? What is its difference from 'under'?

No difference in meaning, as far as I'm concerned. Couldn't tell you which I use more often.

MrPedantic · Answer

Paco posted a note from the OED on "beneath"/"under", a while ago:

The prepositional use of beneath seems originally to have been introduced to express the general notion of ‘lower than,’ as distinguished from the specific sense of under. But in process of time beneath was so largely used for under, that below was laid hold of to express the more general idea. In ordinary spoken English, under and below now cover the whole field (below tending naturally to overlap the territory of under), leaving beneath more or less as a literary and slightly archaic equivalent of both (in some senses), but especially of under. The only senses in which beneath is preferred are 'unworthy of' (‘beneath contempt’), and figurative uses in the sense of overwhelmed by or subject to (e.g. ‘to fall beneath the assaults of temptation’).

MrP

Ruslana · Answer

Thanks, Philip and MrP!

I found the thread where Paco wrote that. (If only I didn't forget to use the search function before asking a question! [f])

Is 'beneath' common nowadays?

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