above ground
prep_phraseUS /əˈbʌvˌɡɹaʊnd/
Etymology From above + ground.
1
On or above the surface of the ground.
- "This place Rome? It is but the tomb of mighty Rome." He showed Gerard . . . the gigantic vestiges of antiquity that peeped aboveground here and there.1861, Charles Reade, chapter 60, in The Cloister and the Hearth:
- Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2013, page 172:
2
Figuratively Not dead and buried; alive.
- Alice: I told you, he don't have no wife, not aboveground, anyhow.1992, David Webb Peoples, Unforgiven, screenplay
3
Not of or relating to the social or political underground; in the open; existing within or produced by the establishment.
- More disturbing was that zines and underground culture didn't seem to be any sort of threat to this aboveground world.2003, Henry Jenkins III, Tara McPherson, Jane Shattuc, Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture, page 228:
- And they argue that if aboveground activists continue to express public sympathy for their underground counterparts […]2006 March, “Watching What You Eat”, in Indianapolis Monthly, page 82:
1 more example
- But there is yet another interlocutor that precedes the underground culture of zines: the aboveground world of straight society.2014, Stephen Duncombe, Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture:
- Synonyms
- superterranean, kicking, mainstream, official
- Antonyms
- belowground, underground