subskill

noun

sub·​skill ˈsəb-ˌskil 

variants or sub-skill

plural subskills or sub-skills

: a skill that is part of and necessary to another more complex skill

Objective tests of writing subskills do not measure the ability to compose.

—Betty Bamberg

Our findings extend prior research that focused on isolated subskills of reading …

—Jill H. Allor et al.

To help students perform the activity and sport skillfully, teachers focus on presenting specific skills by decomposing the skill into subskills and organizing the subskills to be learned into a sequence from simple to complex.

—Weiyun Chen et al.

Examples of subskill in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Researchers do not yet know whether every bad navigator is simply poor at survey knowledge, or whether some of the lost might be failing at other navigational subskills instead, such as remembering landmarks or estimating distance traveled. —Bob Holmes, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined above