subdiscipline

noun

sub·​dis·​ci·​pline ˌsəb-ˈdi-sə-plən How to pronounce subdiscipline (audio)
variants or less commonly sub-discipline
plural subdisciplines also sub-disciplines
: a discipline (such as an academic discipline) that is part of a broader discipline
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline of chemistry.
The management of programmers is a discipline unto itself. There are subdisciplines that deal with how coders communicate.Paul Ford

Examples of subdiscipline in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
The problem is that not all universities ask external reviewers, who are chosen because of their expertise in the scholar’s subdiscipline, to focus on their research. Bykatie Langin, science.org, 4 Oct. 2024 Lynch’s protocol for the subdiscipline involves identifying and digging up samples and then creating metrics by which multiple plants’ root systems can be judged. Maddie Bender, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Mar. 2024 The subdiscipline basically denotes the study of everything that can be uprooted with a shovel. Maddie Bender, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Mar. 2024 Trinh and his colleagues have emphasized that their approach could also be applied to other mathematical subdisciplines such as combinatorics, however. Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 17 Jan. 2024 Spheres are especially important in a subdiscipline of geometry known as contact geometry. Leila Sloman, Quanta Magazine, 7 Nov. 2023 Sometime in the 1970s archeologists broadened their focus, giving rise to a subdiscipline called household archeology. Mary Roach, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019 Since then a subdiscipline of neuroscience has emerged—one dedicated to plotting out the brains of increasingly complex organisms. Lauren Leffer, Scientific American, 21 Aug. 2023 Researchers in this subdiscipline try to understand how aging will affect social relationships and roles. Virginia Hammerle, Dallas News, 18 June 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1912, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of subdiscipline was in 1912

Dictionary Entries Near subdiscipline

Cite this Entry

“Subdiscipline.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subdiscipline. Accessed 19 Nov. 2024.

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