| English Dictionary |
SUBTERRANEOUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Dictionary entry overview: What does subterraneous mean?
• SUBTERRANEOUS (adjective)
The adjective SUBTERRANEOUS has 2 senses:
1. being or operating under the surface of the earth
2. lying beyond what is openly revealed or avowed (especially being kept in the background or deliberately concealed)
Familiarity information: SUBTERRANEOUS used as an adjective is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Being or operating under the surface of the earth
Synonyms:
subterranean; subterraneous
Context example:
a subsurface flow of water
Similar:
subsurface (beneath the surface)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Lying beyond what is openly revealed or avowed (especially being kept in the background or deliberately concealed)
Synonyms:
subterranean; subterraneous; ulterior
Context example:
looked too closely for an ulterior purpose in all knowledge
Similar:
covert (secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed)
Context examples
What! Not when Dorothy has given you to understand that there is a secret subterraneous communication between your apartment and the chapel of St. Anthony, scarcely two miles off?
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
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