subdiscipline

noun

sub·​dis·​ci·​pline ˌsəb-ˈdi-sə-plən How to pronounce subdiscipline (audio)
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

Examples of subdiscipline in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web 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 Researchers in this subdiscipline try to understand how aging will affect social relationships and roles. Virginia Hammerle, Dallas News, 18 June 2023 As the subdiscipline has crept toward the center of academic discourse, it has also been recast as a science. Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2020 By 1996, when Moyes first arrived in Belize as a Florida Atlantic University graduate student to participate in the Western Belize Regional Cave Project, cave studies had been recognized as a legitimate subdiscipline of Maya archaeology. Will Hunt, Discover Magazine, 19 Dec. 2014 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'subdiscipline.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1912, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of subdiscipline was in 1912

Dictionary Entries Near subdiscipline

Cite this Entry

“Subdiscipline.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subdiscipline. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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