undermine
v.v. to make someone or something weaker or less effective, often in a slow or secret way. You use this when someone's confidence or a plan is being ruined bit by bit.
v. to weaken or erode the foundation, authority, or effectiveness of something, often through gradual or insidious means. Transitive — requires a direct object.
Constant criticism can undermine your confidence.
The leaked documents threatened to undermine the public's trust in the local government's ability to manage the crisis.
In philosophical discourse, a single logical inconsistency can undermine an entire metaphysical framework, rendering the subsequent arguments structurally unsound despite their individual rhetorical appeal.
From under- + mine.
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object; frequently used with abstract nouns like 'authority', 'confidence', or 'credibility'.
to undermine about the planto undermine the planUndermine is a transitive verb and does not take a preposition before its object.