List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 38

SYNONYMS: below, under, beneath, underneath.
These adverbs denote the position, or status of people, objects or places.

Below, in its principal sense, denotes only position lower than a given point of reference. They lived in the flat below ours.
Under specifies position directly below, lower than the point of reference and in approximately vertical line with it.
Below is also used to indicate direction and distance in a horizontal plane: a town on the Hudson River below Albany.
Beneath may have the basic sense of below or, more often, of under.
Below indicates deficiency or lessor status in a general way: below normal; below one's rank.
Under indicates specific deficiency or explicitly subordinate relationship: under legal age; serve under a captain.
Beneath applies to deficiency in moral or social senses: beneath ordinary decency; beneath one's level.