Definition of "underwhelm" []

• To fail to excite, stimulate, or impress: "He is just as entitled to be underwhelmed by the prospect of reigning over a fourth-class nation as the rest of us are by the prospect of living in it” ( Peter Jay). (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "It's a version of what might be called the "underwhelm" phenomenon – when journalists archly declare themselves to be "underwhelmed", as if informing the reader: do you see what I did?"
• "This is one of the first ARM netbooks available, there will be many others, maybe some that will not "underwhelm" the Windose fanbois."
• "But investors and analysts fear the deal will underwhelm, owing to political differences that have led Europe to scale down the measures' ambition."