above ground

prepositional phrase3

1. •
   On or above the surface of the ground.

   • "This place Rome? It is but the tomb of mighty Rome." He showed Gerard . . . the gigantic vestiges of antiquity that peeped aboveground here and there. — 1861
2. •
   Not of or relating to the social or political underground; in the open; existing within or produced by the establishment.

   • More disturbing was that zines and underground culture didn't seem to be any sort of threat to this aboveground world. — 2003
3. •
   (figurative) Not dead and buried; alive.

   • Alice: I told you, he don't have no wife, not aboveground, anyhow. — 1992