Standard Lemma guide

subatomic

adj · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌsʌbəˈtɒmɪk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˌsʌbəˈtɑːmɪk/
  • rhymes with -ɒmɪk
  • CMU ARPABET: S AH2 B AH0 T AA1 M IH0 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Relating to particles that are constituents of the atom, or are smaller than an atom; such as proton, neutron, electron, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Relating to something that is smaller in scale than the diameter of a hydrogen atom.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • The electron microscope is able to resolve detail at the subatomic level.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

of or relating to constituents of the atom or forces within the atom

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • subatomic particles
  • harnessing subatomic energy

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

of smaller than atomic dimensions

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *upó Proto-Italic *supo Latin sub Latin sub-der. English sub- Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Hellenic *ə- Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-) Proto-Indo-European *temh1- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Ancient Greek τέμνω (témnō) Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Hellenic *-ós ▲ Ancient Greek -ος (-os)influ. Ancient Greek -ός (-ós) Ancient Greek *τομός (*tomós) Ancient Greek ἄτομος (átomos)bor. Latin atomusbor. Middle French athomebor. Middle English attome English atom Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icuslbor. Old French -iquebor. Middle English -ik English -ic English atomic English subatomic From sub- + atomic.

Across languages

Translations

31 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ներատոմային (neratomayin) — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Asturian: subatómicu — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Catalan: subatòmic — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Chinese Mandarin: 亞原子 /亚原子 (yàyuánzǐ) — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Czech: subatomový — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Dutch: subatomair — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Esperanto: subatoma — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Finnish: subatomaarinen — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Finnish: subatominen — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • French: subatomique — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Galician: subatómico — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • German: subatomar — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Greek: υποατομικός (ypoatomikós) — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Hindi: उपपरमाण्विक (upparmāṇvik) — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Hindi: अवपरमाणुक (avparmāṇuk) — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Hungarian: szubatomi — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Icelandic: smærri en frumeind — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Icelandic: innan atóms — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Irish: fo-adamhach — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Italian: subatomico — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Japanese: 素粒子 (soryūshi) — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Norman: souô-atonmique — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Polish: subatomowy — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Portuguese: subatómico — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Portuguese: subatômico — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Romanian: subatomic — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Russian: суба́томный (subátomnyj) — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Spanish: subatómico — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Swedish: subatomär — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Turkish: atomaltı — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom
  • Welsh: isatomig — relating to particles that are smaller than an atom