1
the + underworld
指“黑社会、犯罪集团”时，underworld 通常与定冠词 the 连用。
He worked undercover to expose the city's underworld.
他做卧底去揭露这座城市的黑社会。
阴间；地府
underworlds — plural of underworld
先理解核心含义，再看它在真实句子里的用法。
阴间；地府
the world of the dead, beneath the world of the living; the afterlife
He worked undercover to expose the city's underworld.
他做卧底去揭露这座城市的黑社会。
阴间；死者的世界；冥界；来世。
The world of the dead, located underneath the world of the living; the afterlife.
犯罪阶层
the criminal class
黑社会；从事犯罪或恶行的社会群体,尤指有组织犯罪。
That part of society that is engaged in crime or vice, and particularly those involved in organized crime.
冥界
(religion) the world of the dead; -Theognis
The detective spent years working undercover to infiltrate the city's criminal underworld.
这名侦探花了多年时间卧底，以潜入这座城市的犯罪黑社会。
He got involved with the underworld after losing his job, and soon regretted it.
他在失业后卷入了黑社会，很快就后悔了。
The film follows a young man who rises through the ranks of London's underworld.
这部电影讲述了一个年轻人在伦敦黑社会中步步高升的故事。
指“黑社会、犯罪集团”时，underworld 通常与定冠词 the 连用。
He worked undercover to expose the city's underworld.
他做卧底去揭露这座城市的黑社会。
of 后接地点或群体，表示“某地的黑社会/地下世界”。
The novel portrays the underworld of 19th-century Paris.
这部小说描绘了十九世纪巴黎的黑社会。
指神话或游戏中的“冥界”时，常位于介词 in 之后，表示地点。
The hero battles monsters in the underworld.
英雄在冥界与怪物作战。
Not this
He listens to underworld music.
Use this
He listens to underground music.
underworld 意为“黑社会；冥界”，而表示“地下的、非主流的（音乐、文化等）”时应用 underground。两者因中文都可译为“地下”而混淆，但词义完全不同。
Not this
The police are fighting against underworld.
Use this
The police are fighting against the underworld.
underworld 指“黑社会”时通常与定冠词 the 连用，表示特定群体。中文没有冠词，学习者容易漏掉 the。
Focus on the distinctions below. Other candidates are kept compact until a reliable usage note is available.
犯罪黑社会；黑社会
The detective spent years undercover in the criminal underworld.
这位侦探在犯罪集团中卧底多年。
黑社会老大
The underworld boss controlled drug trafficking in the city.
那位黑社会老大控制着这座城市的毒品交易。
黑社会关系
He was suspected of having underworld connections.
他被怀疑与黑社会有联系。
神话中的冥界
In the ancient Greek mythological underworld, the river Styx separated the living from the dead.
在古希腊神话中的冥界，冥河将生者与死者分隔开来。
进入冥界的旅程；下冥界
The epic poem narrates the hero's descent into the underworld.
这部史诗叙述了主人公进入冥界的旅程。
下降到冥界是容易的。
This line, from Virgil's Aeneid Book VI, is spoken by the Cumaean Sibyl to Aeneas. It remarks that the path into the Underworld is easy to take, but returning to the world of the living is exceedingly difficult, and it is often quoted to warn of the ease of getting into trouble compared with getting out.
这句话出自维吉尔的《埃涅阿斯纪》第六卷，是库迈西比尔对埃涅阿斯说的。它指出进入冥界的路很容易走，但回到活人的世界却极其困难，常被引用以警示：陷于麻烦容易，脱身却难。
Use underworlds naturally, then get feedback on meaning, tone, grammar, and phrasing.
Revisit a common error or keep this word in your review list.
联想记忆：under（下）+ world（世界）→ 地下世界，黑帮和冥界都在地下。
语域：mixed 常见场景：神话与宗教叙事、犯罪新闻报道 该词主要有两个义项：指“冥界、阴间”时通常见于神话、宗教或文学语境，语气偏正式；指“犯罪阶层、黑社会”时多用于新闻报道、罪案题材，语气呈中性。注册随语境变化，无法简单定为正式或非正式。
Often used with the definite article 'the'.
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.