subtitle

American  

[suhb-tahyt-l] / ˈsʌbˌtaɪt l /

noun

1. a secondary or subordinate title of a literary work, usually of explanatory character.

2. a repetition of the leading words in the full title of a book at the head of the first page of text.

3. Movies, Television, Digital Technology.

   1. a translation or transcription of spoken language in a television program, film, video, or video game, as of dialogue in a foreign language or speech that is audible but may not be easily understood, displayed as a graphic overlay on the lower part of the screen.

   2. caption.

   3. (in silent films) an intertitle or caption.

---

verb (used with object)

subtitled, subtitling

1. to supply a subtitle or subtitles for.

subtitle British  

/ ˈsʌbˌtaɪtəl, -ˈtɪtʃə-, sʌbˈtɪtjʊlə /

noun

1. an additional subordinate title given to a literary or other work

2. Also called: caption.  (often plural) films

   1. a written translation superimposed on a film that has foreign dialogue

   2. explanatory text on a silent film

---

verb

1. (tr; usually passive) to provide a subtitle for

Other Word Forms

• subtitular
  adjective
• unsubtitled
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of subtitle

First recorded in 1875–80; sub- + title

Explanation

A subtitle can either be the second, explanatory, part of a longer title, or the words that appear at the bottom of a movie screen to translate dialogue that's spoken in a foreign language. If you've got hearing loss, you might watch TV with the subtitles on, so that you can read the dialogue as it's spoken. And when a foreign film is shown in the U.S., it usually has English subtitles. The subtitle of a book, on the other hand, comes after (or under) its main title. You might call your memoirs "My Story," with the subtitle "An Incredible Life." The prefix sub-, fittingly, means "under."

Example Sentences

But the book’s subtitle, “The Invention of Biology and the Revolutionary Science of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck,” is more than a bit misleading.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

Okrent’s subtitle, “Art Isn’t Easy,” is a lyric from Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2026

The more things change, the more they stay the same: That could have been the subtitle of Philip Stephens’s vivid and provocative book on the tangled relationship between Britain and Ireland.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 13, 2026

In a phone conversation and later at his office, Klapper said the subtitle is going to be, “Let Me Explain.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 1, 2026

It bore the subtitle: A Periodical Work giving an Account, with Proper Abstracts of, and Extracts from, the New Books, Pamphlets, etc., as they come out.

From Early Reviews of English Poets by Haney, John Louis

Related Words

• call
• describe
• dub