Subterrain
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The bedrock or rock layer that lies beneath the soil and superficial features of an area. countable, uncountable
"In this way at least a crude picture of the subterrain can be built up during the survey."
- 2 A cave or underground room. countable, uncountable
"Subterrains have been found in almost all the nations of antiquity; but philosophers have put themselves to little trouble to discover the motives for making these excavations, which were much varied in their forms."
- 3 An underground region. countable, uncountable
"The land under Rabbit seems to move, with the addition of yet another citizen to the subterrain of the dead."
- 4 An underlying basis or undercurrent. countable, uncountable
"The roots of the misogyny, homophobia, and anti-Semitism that indelibly mark Modernism are to be found in the subterrain of changing sexual and political mores that constituted belle époque Faubourg society, and it is here that the story of these women begins — in Edith Wharton's drawing room."
- 1 Synonym of subterranean.
"Some skinks have adopted a subterrain life and have dispensed with their limbs."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"In this way at least a crude picture of the subterrain can be built up during the survey."
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.