Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Biology A taxonomic category of related organisms ranking between a family and a genus.
- n. Linguistics A division of languages below a family and above a branch.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In zoology, the first subdivision of a family, containing several genera or only one genus. A subfamily may be introduced formally between the genus and the family when there is no other subdivision. Then the only subfamily of a family is conterminous with the higher group. Subfamilies are now regularly indicated by the termination -inæ: as, family Felidæ, subfamily Felinæ. That subfamily which takes the name of the family with a different termination is usually regarded as the typical subdivision of the family.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Biol.) One of the subdivisions, of more importance than genus, into which certain families are divided.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (biology) a taxonomic category below a family
Etymologies
- sub- + family (Wiktionary)
Examples
“On the origins of Hippopotamidae together with descriptions of two species, a new genus and a new subfamily from the Miocene of Kenya.”
“In the era immediately following World War II, the subfamily was a convenient startup arrangement for young couples newly married and as a residential arrangement for an elderly dependent parent in the home of a son or daughter.”
“Most cool season cereal, forage and turf grasses belong to the Pooideae subfamily, which is also the largest grass subfamily.”
“This 'subfamily' is a critical area of family life all around the world, regardless of cultural influence.”
“This month, IF Editor Cat Wayland talks about the "subfamily" of siblings in her newly launched IF mag blog.”
“Most of the languages of this subfamily straddle the border between Chiapas and Guatemala.”
“According to Ethnologue. com, the Chol belong to the Chol-Chontal subfamily of the Maya Linguistic Group.”
“The dung beetle subfamily Scarabaeinae is a cosmopolitan group of insects that feed primarily on dung.”
“This suite of molar morphologies is also found to varying degrees in Pongo and Sivapithecus, but not in African apes and humans, and may be diagnostic of subfamily Ponginae.”
“The centrosaurines form a subfamily of the Ceratopsidae.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘subfamily’.
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sub- (suc-, suf-, etc.)
lower; somewhat; secondary; supporting
subalpine, subordinate, subconscious, subvention, sublet, subsistence, subsidize, sub, subacetate, subacid, subacidity, subacidness and 114 more...
-
How low can you go?
A list of words that does the opposite of raising the bar
underscore, underwear, underachiever, underrated, underbite, undercapitalization, undercharged, underfloor, underground, underexposed, underfed, underboss and 105 more...
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