suborbital

adjective

sub·​or·​bit·​al ˌsəb-ˈȯr-bə-tᵊl 

1

: situated beneath the eye or the orbit of the eye

2

: being or involving less than one orbit (as of the earth or moon)

also : intended for suborbital flight

Examples of suborbital in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Last year, SpaceX launched 132 Falcon 9 flights, two missions of the more powerful Falcon Heavy and four suborbital trials of its Starship megarocket. —Mike Wall, Space.com, 22 Oct. 2025

But the rocket system, the most powerful ever developed, still needs to conduct orbital flights around Earth — thus far, the tests have been to suborbital space. —Denise Chow, NBC news, 16 Oct. 2025

The suborbital test was the final launch for the current version 2 of the vehicle, which is about 403 feet tall. —Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 14 Oct. 2025

Starship’s upper stage continued a climb to space on its six Raptor engines to begin a suborbital trajectory toward a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. —PC Magazine, 14 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1803, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for suborbital

• infraorbital
• postorbital
• interorbital
• periorbital
• supraorbital
• orbital

Medical Definition

suborbital

adjective

sub·​or·​bit·​al ˌsəb-ˈȯr-bət-ᵊl 

: situated or occurring beneath the eye or the orbit of the eye

suborbital fat