SUBTROPICAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does subtropical mean? 

• SUBTROPICAL (adjective)
  The adjective SUBTROPICAL has 1 sense:

1. of or relating to or characteristic of conditions in the subtropics

  Familiarity information: SUBTROPICAL used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUBTROPICAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to or characteristic of conditions in the subtropics

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

semitropic; semitropical; subtropic; subtropical

Context example:

even near the equator vegetation at 5000 ft is subtropical rather than tropical

Pertainym:

subtropics (regions adjacent to the tropics)

 Context examples 

Vast subtropical gyres — large systems of rotating currents in the middle of the oceans — cover 40% of the Earth.

(North Pacific Ocean fertilized by iron in Asian dust, National Science Foundation)

As oceans warm, cooler subtropical environments are becoming more favorable for corals than the equatorial waters where they traditionally thrived.

(Coral reefs shifting away from equatorial waters, National Science Foundation)

Climate change is likely to widen this Hadley circulation, causing the northward advance of subtropical deserts.

(New study finds world’s largest desert, the Sahara, has grown by 10 percent since 1920, National Science Foundation)

Penitentes are present on Earth and grow to between 1 to 5 metres tall, but they are restricted to high-altitude tropical and subtropical conditions, such as in the Andes.

(Icy Warning for Space Missions to Jupiter's Moon, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

South America's climate became drier, subtropical grasslands expanded and the number of mammal species that depended on grasses increased.

(Six million years ago, atmospheric shifts led to increased diversity of grassland mammals, National Science Foundation)

Camellia sinensis is native to mainland South and Southeast Asia, but is today cultivated across the world, in tropical and subtropical regions.

(Camellia sinensis, NCI Thesaurus)

M. ulcerans is found in the wetlands of tropical and subtropical countries, causes an ulcerative skin disease known as Buruli ulcer, and there is some evidence that it may be transmitted through the bites of infected aquatic insects.

(Mycobacterium ulcerans, NCI Thesaurus)

Scientists found that the number of young corals on tropical reefs has declined by 85 percent – and doubled on subtropical reefs – over the last four decades.

(Coral reefs shifting away from equatorial waters, National Science Foundation)