Subcelebrity
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The state or quality of being somewhat known but not enough to be considered truly famous. uncountable
"Himself almost unknown, Gay yet held a curious subcelebrity with not a few men who had won distinction in widely diverging lines."
- 2 A person who is somewhat known but not famous enough to be considered a true celebrity. countable
"So Angela was relegated to the netherworld of D.C. subcelebrities — not quite interesting enough to be famous but just famous enough to be interesting."
Example
More examples"Himself almost unknown, Gay yet held a curious subcelebrity with not a few men who had won distinction in widely diverging lines."
Etymology
From sub- + celebrity.
More for "subcelebrity"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.