subarctic

[ suhb-ahrk-tik, -ahr-tik ]

adjective
  1. of, pertaining to, similar to, or being the region immediately south of the Arctic Circle; subpolar.

Origin of subarctic

1
First recorded in 1850–55; sub- + Arctic
  • Sometimes sub-Arc·tic .

Words Nearby subarctic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use subarctic in a sentence

  • For convenience we may designate this vast and but little known northern region as the subarctic Forest plains.

    North America | Israel C. Russell
  • This same broad conclusion is sustained also at the north, where the prairie dovetails, as it were, with the subarctic forest.

    North America | Israel C. Russell
  • The smaller deer of various species inhabited the entire continent from the subarctic forest to Panama.

    North America | Israel C. Russell

British Dictionary definitions for subarctic

subarctic

/ (sʌbˈɑːktɪk) /


adjective
  1. of or relating to latitudes immediately south of the Arctic Circle

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for subarctic

subarctic

[ sŭb′-ärktĭk, -ärtĭk ]


  1. Relating to the geographic area just south of the Arctic Circle. The subarctic region is the coldest part of the North Temperate Zone, characterized by warm but very brief summers, and bitterly cold winters. Little vegetation exists in this climate, as temperatures are extreme, ranging from below -30°C (-22°F) in the winter and as warm as 30°C (86°F) in the summer.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.