subterranean

English

Etymology

From Latin subterrāneus +‎ -an. Compare subterrane and subterraneous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌsʌbtəˈɹeɪniən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sub‧ter‧ra‧ne‧an

Adjective

subterranean (not comparable)

1. Below ground, under the earth, underground.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 162:

     Again the bearers took up the coffin, and cold and damp the subterranean air came from the opened vault. The tapers were lowered, and shed a ghastly light on the rows of piled coffins, and the moisture glittering on the walls.

   • 1975, Joni Mitchell (lyrics and music), “The Boho Dance”, in The Hissing of Summer Lawns:

     And you were in the parking lot / Subterranean by your own design

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 52:

     This is a story of north-south connection, and it begins with the fact that late in 1863 the Great Northern Railway completed a subterranean connection from its terminus at King's Cross to the tracks of the Metropolitan enabling the Great Northern to run through to the Met's easterly terminus at Farringdon Street.

   • 2022 December 15, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     The best way to neutralise its [nuclear waste's] threat is to move it into a subterranean vault, of the kind the UK plans to build later this century. Once interred, the waste will be left alone for tens of thousands of years, while its radioactivity cools.

   • 2025 February 2, Andrew Torgan and Kimberly Richardson, “Start your week smart: Trump tariffs, DC air collision, hostages released, medevac jet crash, FAA system outage”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     Today is that most sacred of American holidays. A day when people from all walks of life set aside their differences and focus their undivided attention on the prognostication abilities of a subterranean rodent.

2. (by extension) Secret, concealed.
   • 2021 October 17, Katrin Bennhold, “Fake Polls and Tabloid Coverage on Demand: The Dark Side of Sebastian Kurz”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

     The subterranean tool of buying rigged opinion polling and media coverage is outlined in remarkable detail in chat exchanges recovered from the cellphone of one of Mr. Kurz’s closest allies and friends, Thomas Schmid.

Synonyms

• (below the ground): subterraneous, subterrene, underground, hypogean

Derived terms

• subterranean clover

Related terms

• terranean

Translations

below ground, under the earth — see also underground

• Armenian: ընդերկրյա (hy) (ənderkrya), ստորգետնյա (hy) (storgetnya)
• Belarusian: падзе́мны (padzjémny)
• Bulgarian: подзе́мен (bg) (podzémen)
• Catalan: subterrani (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 地底 (zh) (dìdǐ), 地下 (zh) (dìxià)

• Czech: podzemní (cs)
• Danish: underjordisk (da)
• Dutch: onderaards (nl)
• Finnish: maanalainen (fi)
• French: souterrain (fr)
• Georgian: მიწისქვეშა (mic̣iskveša)
• German: unterirdisch (de)
• Greek: υπόγειος (el) (ypógeios)

  Ancient: ὑπόγειος (hupógeios), χθόνιος (khthónios)

• Hebrew: תַּת קַרְקָעִי m (tat-karka'í)
• Hungarian: föld alatti
• Ingrian: maanalain
• Italian: sotterraneo (it) m
• Japanese: 地下の (ja) (ちかの, chika no)
• Kazakh: жерастылық (jerastylyq)
• Latin: subterrāneus
• Macedonian: подземен (podzemen)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: underjordisk

• Old English: eorþen
• Polish: podziemny (pl)
• Portuguese: subterrâneo (pt) m
• Romanian: subteran (ro)
• Russian: подзе́мный (ru) (podzémnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: подземан

  Roman: podzeman

• Slovak: podzemný
• Slovene: podzemen
• Spanish: subterráneo (es)
• Swedish: underjordisk (sv)
• Ukrainian: підзе́мний (pidzémnyj)
• Welsh: tanddaearol (cy)
• Yiddish: אונטערערדיש (untererdish)

See also

• chthonic

Noun

subterranean (plural subterraneans)

1. Someone or something that is subterranean.
   • 1691, Robert Kirk, “Of the Subterranean Inhabitants”, in Andrew Lang, editor, The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, & Fairies: A Study in Folk-Lore & Psychical Research (Bibliothèque de Carabas; VIII), London: […] David Nutt, […], published 1893, →OCLC, page 11:

     [H]e continues Lean like a Hawke or Heron, notwith ſtanding his devouring Appetite: yet it would ſeem that they convey that ſubſtance elſewhere, for theſe Subterraneans eat but little in their Dwellings; […]

   • 1782, James Elphinston, “A Comment on the Epigrams of Martial”, in M[arcus] Val[erius] Martial, translated by James Elphinston, The Epigrams of M. Val. Martial, in Twelve Books: with a Comment, London: […] Baker and Galabin, […], →OCLC, book I, part II, page 503, columns 1–2:

     Whatever elſe the Tauric Cimmerium have been right or wrong called, it is no leſs ſurely a capital of darkneſs, than, near the famous Baths of Baiae, in Campania, the Cimmerium, where the inhabitants were truly Cimmerian; as miners, or other ſubterraneans; who, for good or evil purpoſe, never faced the ſun.

   • 1906, Richard Whiteing, chapter X, in Ring in the New, London: Hutchinson & Co. […], →OCLC, page 66:

     Prue found an ample subterranean, neatly furnished; […]

   • 1988, Erika Pauli, transl., “Santa Reparata”, in Art and History of Florence, Florence: Casa Editrice Bonechi, page 56:

     Above: a stretch of the walls of the old Cathedral of S. Reparata in the subterraneans of the Duomo.