suboptimal
Americanadjective
Usage
What does suboptimal mean? Suboptimal means below the optimal (best possible) level or standard.The words optimal and optimum both describe an ideal or perfect level, degree, result, or similar thing. Suboptimal means something has fallen short of that level. It is often used in phrases like suboptimal performance and suboptimal conditions.Example: The patient’s heart is performing at a suboptimal level.
Etymology
Origin of suboptimal
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Palihapitiya on Wednesday blamed several factors for his difficulties at Social Capital — a divorce, partners who he said made the firm a “political snake pit,” and what he said were “suboptimal” portfolio decisions that didn’t match his investment style.
From MarketWatch
“In crisis moments, people tend to make suboptimal decisions,” said Shah.
From MarketWatch
Its trailer, in which a voiceover intones: “A passion . . . An obsession . . . A love that destroyed everyone it touched,” is a bit unsettling to watch from the vantage of 2026, when love that destroys everyone it touches is generally understood to be suboptimal for all involved.
From Salon
Without fiduciaries serving as a buffer between the participant and the market, investments will be suboptimal.
From MarketWatch
“It’s actually incredibly inefficient, but because it’s so world-changing, they’re able to do it. It’s like, suboptimal from my seat, or from the seat of, let’s say, a finance professor who was looking at the problem.”
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
