Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Situated or operating beneath the earth's surface; underground.
  • adjective Hidden; secret.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Situated or occurring below the surface of the earth or under ground.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Being or lying under the surface of the earth; situated within the earth, or under ground

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective below ground, under the earth, underground

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective being or operating under the surface of the earth
  • adjective lying beyond what is openly revealed or avowed (especially being kept in the background or deliberately concealed)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin subterrāneus : sub-, sub- + terra, earth; see ters- in Indo-European roots.]

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