subtropical

[ suhb-trop-i-kuhl ]

adjective
  1. bordering on the tropics; nearly tropical.

  2. pertaining to or occurring in a region between tropical and temperate; subtorrid; semitropical.

noun
  1. a subtropical plant.

Origin of subtropical

1
First recorded in 1835–45; sub- + tropical

Words Nearby subtropical

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use subtropical in a sentence

  • Another mosquito-borne infection, dengue is found primarily in urban and rural tropical and subtropical regions.

    8 Diseases Scarier Than Swine Flu | Barbara Kantrowitz | October 16, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • It is very common in subtropical countries, notably in Italy and in southern China.

    A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd
  • Accidental; two instances; habitat, tropical and subtropical America.

    Birds of the Rockies | Leander Sylvester Keyser
  • About two miles inland from Pentewan is Heligan, a very fine estate, whose gardens display rare subtropical vegetation.

    The Cornwall Coast | Arthur L. Salmon
  • Here the full force of the fierce subtropical sun began to make itself felt.

  • Overhead spread a canopy of luminous, subtropical stars; in undisturbed silence they gazed up at their brilliance.

    The Honorable Percival | Alice Hegan Rice

British Dictionary definitions for subtropical

subtropical

/ (sʌbˈtrɒpɪkəl) /


adjective
  1. situated in, used in, characteristic of, or relating to the subtropics

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for subtropical

subtropical

[ sŭb-trŏpĭ-kəl ]


  1. Relating to the regions of the Earth bordering on the tropics, just north of the Tropic of Cancer or just south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Subtropical regions are the warmest parts of the two Temperate Zones.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.