subdiscipline
noun
sub·dis·ci·pline
ˌsəb-ˈdi-sə-plən 
variants
or less commonly sub-discipline
plural subdisciplines also sub-disciplines
: a discipline (such as an academic discipline) that is part of a broader discipline
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline of chemistry.
The management of programmers is a discipline unto itself. There are subdisciplines that deal with how coders communicate.—
Paul Ford
Paul FordExamples of subdiscipline in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Biologists of many different subdisciplines categorize life in a field called systematics.
—Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Apr. 2025
The problem is that not all universities ask external reviewers, who are chosen because of their expertise in the scholar’s subdiscipline, to focus on their research.
—Bykatie Langin, science.org, 4 Oct. 2024
Lynch’s protocol for the subdiscipline involves identifying and digging up samples and then creating metrics by which multiple plants’ root systems can be judged.
—Maddie Bender, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Mar. 2024
The subdiscipline basically denotes the study of everything that can be uprooted with a shovel.
—Maddie Bender, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Mar. 2024
Trinh and his colleagues have emphasized that their approach could also be applied to other mathematical subdisciplines such as combinatorics, however.
—Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 17 Jan. 2024
Spheres are especially important in a subdiscipline of geometry known as contact geometry.
—Leila Sloman, Quanta Magazine, 7 Nov. 2023
Sometime in the 1970s archeologists broadened their focus, giving rise to a subdiscipline called household archeology.
—Mary Roach, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019
Since then a subdiscipline of neuroscience has emerged—one dedicated to plotting out the brains of increasingly complex organisms.
—Lauren Leffer, Scientific American, 21 Aug. 2023
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Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Apr. 2025
The problem is that not all universities ask external reviewers, who are chosen because of their expertise in the scholar’s subdiscipline, to focus on their research.
—Bykatie Langin, science.org, 4 Oct. 2024
Lynch’s protocol for the subdiscipline involves identifying and digging up samples and then creating metrics by which multiple plants’ root systems can be judged.
—Maddie Bender, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Mar. 2024
The subdiscipline basically denotes the study of everything that can be uprooted with a shovel.
—Maddie Bender, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Mar. 2024
Trinh and his colleagues have emphasized that their approach could also be applied to other mathematical subdisciplines such as combinatorics, however.
—Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 17 Jan. 2024
Spheres are especially important in a subdiscipline of geometry known as contact geometry.
—Leila Sloman, Quanta Magazine, 7 Nov. 2023
Sometime in the 1970s archeologists broadened their focus, giving rise to a subdiscipline called household archeology.
—Mary Roach, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019
Since then a subdiscipline of neuroscience has emerged—one dedicated to plotting out the brains of increasingly complex organisms.
—Lauren Leffer, Scientific American, 21 Aug. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Subdiscipline.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subdiscipline. Accessed 24 May. 2025.
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