subgroup

[ suhb-groop ]

/ ˈsʌbˌgrup /

Save This Word!

noun

a subordinate group; a division of a group.

Chemistry. a division of a group in the periodic table.

Mathematics. a subset of a group that is closed under the group operation and in which every element has an inverse in the subset.

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of subgroup

First recorded in 1835–45; sub- + group

Words nearby subgroup

subgenre, subgenus, subgingival, subglacial, subgrade, subgroup, subgum, subha, subhalide, subharmonic, subhead

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use subgroup in a sentence

The vaccine’s efficacy rate was lower — 42 percent — in preventing moderate to severe illness in a subgroup of adults older than 60 who had medical risk factors.
FDA review confirms safety, efficacy of single-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, especially against severe cases|Carolyn Y. Johnson, Laurie McGinley|February 24, 2021|Washington Post
This means in the other subgroups, there were slight decreases or no effect on drunk driving.
Study: Smoking bans saved countless lives — could they have increased drunk driving?|Jerusalem Demsas|December 24, 2020|Vox
While the company provided numbers for how many trial participants were over 65 and from various ethnic communities, the company didn’t say how the vaccine performed in each of these subgroups.
Moderna released more Covid-19 vaccine results. They’re very encouraging.|Umair Irfan|November 30, 2020|Vox
It isn’t known how well the shot works in key subgroups, such as the elderly.
Pfizer and BioNTech take the lead after study shows their vaccine prevents 90% of infections|kdunn6|November 9, 2020|Fortune

It would be a red flag, he said, if officials are heavily encouraging people who weren’t well represented in the trials to take the vaccine, or if there’s not public data on how effectiveness varied for different subgroups.
How To Know When You Can Trust A COVID-19 Vaccine|Maggie Koerth (maggie.koerth-baker@fivethirtyeight.com)|September 23, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
Heroin overdose deaths from 2010 to 2012 increased in every single subgroup examined in the CDC report.
Heroin Overdoses Double in Two Years|Brandy Zadrozny|October 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I think one of the main issues would be that there may be a subgroup of people who may run into problems with compulsive use.
Does Porn Cause Brain Shrinkage In Men?|Emily Shire|May 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It means treating women not as some alien species or subgroup.
What the GOP Can Learn from the NFL’s Outreach to Women|Kristen Soltis Anderson|January 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There's a subgroup that both attends and mocks, but it's tiny.
World to Davos: Will You Admit You Screwed Up?|David Frum|January 28, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Integrated Jews are not a foreign subgroup in France or Canada.
Lyn Julius Responds to Lara Friedman|Lyn Julius|August 14, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The growth of cities is the visible sign of an upward movement of labor in the subgroup series.
Essentials of Economic Theory|John Bates Clark
If improvements were long confined to one subgroup, they might send labor into other subgroups and even into other general groups.
Essentials of Economic Theory|John Bates Clark
Some naturalists make this genus the type of a distinct subgroup, Centurioneae.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2|Various
On no other evidence would we be justified in ascribing 200 persons to each subgroup.
The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of California|Sherburne Friend Cook
In 1839, Waterhouse referred the genus Geomys to his family Arvicolidae, considered by him to be a subgroup of muroids.
Evolution and Classification of the Pocket Gophers of the Subfamily Geomyinae|Robert J. Russell

British Dictionary definitions for subgroup

subgroup

/ (ˈsʌbˌɡruːp) /

noun

a distinct and often subordinate division of a group

a mathematical group whose members are members of another group, both groups being subject to the same rule of combination

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