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

The company has been flying New Shepard, a reusable rocket-capsule combo, to and from suborbital space since 2015. —Mike Wall, Space.com, 23 Jan. 2026

The smaller, suborbital New Shepard vehicle is not to be confused with Blue Origin's towering orbital New Glenn rocket that has now launched twice from Florida. —Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 22 Jan. 2026

But New Mexico's role in aerospace isn't just a thing of the past, as is evident at Spaceport America—the world's first facility designed for commercial suborbital space travel. —Sharael Kolberg, Travel + Leisure, 30 Dec. 2025

The mission, known as NS-37, was the company’s 16th suborbital space tourism launch. —Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 21 Dec. 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