English

Alternative forms

• underway

Prepositional phrase

under way

1. (idiomatic) In operation, in progress, commenced.
   • 2011 October 23, Tom Fordyce, “2011 Rugby World Cup final: New Zealand 8-7 France”, in BBC Sport:

     The All Blacks drove upfield, using up the remaining moments, and when Joubert blew for another French infringement, the biggest party in New Zealand's history was under way.

   • 2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18:

     Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.

2. (nautical, of a vessel) moving through the water; not anchored, moored, aground, or beached^[1].
3. Into motion, into its course.

   The show finally got under way, just 10 minutes late.‎

Related terms

• make way

Translations

References

1. ↑ US FM 55-501 Marine Crewman's Handbook; 1 December 1999