adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Of less than critical importance not-comparable
2. 2
   Having a numerical value less than some critical value not-comparable
3. 3
   Having insufficient mass to sustain a chain reaction not-comparable

   "a subcritical reactor"

Antonyms

All antonyms

supercriticalsupracritical

Etymology

From sub- + critical.

Related phrases

subcritical masschain reaction

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.