subtropical

[suhb-trop-i-kuh l]

adjective

bordering on the tropics; nearly tropical.
pertaining to or occurring in a region between tropical and temperate; subtorrid; semitropical.

noun

a subtropical plant.

Origin of subtropical

First recorded in 1835–45; sub- + tropical

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for subtropical

Contemporary Examples of subtropical

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

Historical Examples of subtropical

Occasionally it spreads into subtropical or even temperate regions.
Insects and Diseases
Rennie W. Doane
Accidental; two instances; habitat, tropical and subtropical America.
Birds of the Rockies
Leander Sylvester Keyser
The alg of this order are found only in tropical or subtropical waters.
The Sea-beach at Ebb-tide
Augusta Foote Arnold
Found in southern California and in tropical and subtropical seas.
The Sea-beach at Ebb-tide
Augusta Foote Arnold
Temperate to Subtropical life-zones of Venezuela and northern and western Colombia.
American Weasels
E. Raymond Hall

British Dictionary definitions for subtropical

subtropical

adjective

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

Word Origin and History for subtropical

adj.

1842, from sub- + tropical.

subtropical in Science

subtropical

[sŭb-trŏp′ĭ-kəl]

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.