Definition of "underling"
underling
noun
plural underlings
A subordinate, or person of lesser rank or authority.
Quotations
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii], lines 140-141
His decision to stay at the compound in the face of possible assassination set an example, making it more difficult for his underlings to cut and run. “Anyone who left is a traitor,” Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, told its members a few hours after the invasion started.
2022 December 7, Simon Shuster, “2022 Person of the Year: Volodymyr Zelensky”, in Time