subcontinent
/ˌsʌbˈkɒntɪnənt/
subcontinent noun: a large landmass which is either smaller than a continent (such as Greenland), or part of an even larger continent (such as the Indian subcontinent).
Noun
subcontinent (plural subcontinents)
- A large landmass which is either smaller than a continent (such as Greenland), or part of an even larger continent (such as the Indian subcontinent).
Proper noun (1)
the subcontinent
- The Indian subcontinent, South Asia.
- The Turks had acquired the culture of power of Persia and implemented its political and administrative traditions in the subcontinent.2006, Ilhan Niaz, An Inquiry into the Culture of Power of the Subcontinent, page 290
- The terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore could lead to Dubai and Abu Dhabi becoming the "home" venues for the subcontinent’s cricket-playing countries for the forseeable future, according to leading officials in England and worldwide.2009 March 8, Jamie Jackson, “Dubai stands by to host Test cricket”, in The Guardian
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Subcontinent
the Subcontinent
- Alternative letter-case form of subcontinent (“the Indian subcontinent”).
subcontinent meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
subcontinent in Hindi
- large landmass
- उपमहाद्वीप upmahādvīp
subcontinent in Tamil
- large landmass
- துணைக்கண்டம் tuṇaikkaṇṭam
subcontinent in Urdu
- large landmass
- بَرِّصَغِیر barr-e-saġīr
subcontinent in Bengali
- large landmass
- উপমহাদেশ upomhadeś
More languagesFewer languages
- subcontinent in Telugu
- ఉపఖండం upakhaṇḍaṁ
- subcontinent in Punjabi
- ਉਪਮਹਾਂਦੀਪ upamhāndīp
- subcontinent in Arabic
- شِبْه قارَة šibh qāra
- subcontinent in Malay
- subbenua
- subcontinent in Indonesian
- anak benua
- subcontinent in Persian
- شبهقاره šebh-e-qârre
- subcontinent in Thai
- อนุทวีป à-nú-tá-wîip
- subcontinent in Vietnamese
- tiểu lục địa
Examples of subcontinent in a sentence
- The many Indian restaurants all over Britain are a by-product of the large waves of immigration from the subcontinent.
- The awqaf system in India goes back to the early days of the Islamic presence in the subcontinent.
- The topas represented the earlier colonial presence of Portugal in the subcontinent.
Forms of subcontinent
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | subcontinents |
| Proper noun | |
| alternative form | Subcontinent |
Origin of subcontinent
From sub- + continent.
Ellipsis of Indian subcontinent.
Words formed from subcontinent
Phrases with subcontinent
Questions about subcontinent
- What does subcontinent mean?
- Subcontinent means a large landmass which is either smaller than a continent (such as Greenland), or part of an even larger continent (such as the Indian subcontinent).
- What is subcontinent in Hindi?
- Subcontinent in Hindi is उपमहाद्वीप (upmahādvīp). See Subcontinent meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is subcontinent?
- Subcontinent can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce subcontinent?
- Subcontinent is pronounced /ˌsʌbˈkɒntɪnənt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of subcontinent?
- The plural of subcontinent is subcontinents.
Words near subcontinent in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: subcontinent (page history and authors); Subcontinent (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-subcontinent.wav.
Cite this entry: “subcontinent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/subcontinent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.