subterranean en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˌsʌbtəˈɹeɪniən/
Etymology
From Latin subterrāneus + -an. Compare subterrane and subterraneous.
Meanings
-
(not-comparable) Below ground, under the earth, underground.
The best way to neutralise its [nuclear waste's] threat is to move it into a subterranean vault, of the kind the UK plans to build later this century. Once interred, the waste will be left alone for tens of thousands of years, while its radioactivity cools.
2022 December 15, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian:Again the bearers took up the coffin, and cold and damp the subterranean air came from the opened vault. The tapers were lowered, and shed a ghastly light on the rows of piled coffins, and the moisture glittering on the walls.
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 162:And you were in the parking lot / Subterranean by your own design
1975, Joni Mitchell, “The Boho Dance”, in The Hissing of Summer Lawns:This is a story of north-south connection, and it begins with the fact that late in 1863 the Great Northern Railway completed a subterranean connection from its terminus at King's Cross to the tracks of the Metropolitan enabling the Great Northern to run through to the Met's easterly terminus at Farringdon Street.
2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 52:Today is that most sacred of American holidays. A day when people from all walks of life set aside their differences and focus their undivided attention on the prognostication abilities of a subterranean rodent.
2025 February 2, Andrew Torgan and Kimberly Richardson, “Start your week smart: Trump tariffs, DC air collision, hostages released, medevac jet crash, FAA system outage”, in CNN:
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(broadly, not-comparable) Secret, concealed.
The subterranean tool of buying rigged opinion polling and media coverage is outlined in remarkable detail in chat exchanges recovered from the cellphone of one of Mr. Kurz’s closest allies and friends, Thomas Schmid.
2021 October 17, Katrin Bennhold, “Fake Polls and Tabloid Coverage on Demand: The Dark Side of Sebastian Kurz”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
Antonyms
Deriveds
subterranean clover · semisubterranean · subterraneanity · subterraneanness · subterraneanly
Hyponyms
Relateds
deep · subaqueous · chthonic · terranean
Synonyms
chthonian · subterranean · cuniculate · belowground · subterrene (below the ground) · hypogean (below the ground) · subterraneous (below the ground) · chthonic · underground (below the ground)
Translations (41)
sk podzemný (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · hi भूमिगत (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · sh podzeman (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · ca subterrani (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · hy ընդերկրյա (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · grc χθόνιος (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · ro subteran (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · yi אונטערערדיש (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · fi maanalainen (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · de unterirdisch (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · sl podzemen (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · nb underjordisk (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · pl podziemny (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · ja 地下の (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · ka მიწისქვეშა (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · sv underjordisk (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · cs podzemní (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · izh maanalain (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · bg подзе́мен (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · da underjordisk (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · pt subterrâneo (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · ang eorþen (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · uk підзе́мний (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · sh подземан (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · el υπόγειος (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · nl onderaards (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · mk подземен (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · ru подзе́мный (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · fr souterrain (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · cmn 地底 (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · hy ստորգետնյա (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · cmn 地下 (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · it sotterraneo (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · grc ὑπόγειος (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · he תַּת קַרְקָעִי (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · be падзе́мны (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · cy tanddaearol (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · la subterrāneus (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · hu föld alatti (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · kk жерастылық (below ground, under the earth — see also underground) · es subterráneo (below ground, under the earth — see also underground)