Definitions

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

  • noun Biology A taxonomic category of related organisms ranking below an order and above a family.
  • noun A subdivision of a category termed an order.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In botany and zoology, a subdivision of an order; a group subordinate to an order; a superfamily. See family, 6, and order, n., 5.
  • noun In architecture, a subordinate or secondary order; an order introduced for decoration, or chiefly so, as distinguished from a main order of the structure.
  • noun In petrography, in the quantitative classification of igneous rocks (see rock), a division lower than order and higher than rang.

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

  • noun (Nat. Hist.) A division of an order; a group of genera of a little lower rank than an order and of greater importance than a tribe or family.

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

  • noun taxonomy A taxonomic category below order and above infraorder.

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

  • noun (biology) taxonomic group that is a subdivision of an order

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • This is not a grasshopper, but rather, a member of the same order, but classified as the suborder Ensifera of Long-Horned Orthoperta, and the family Tettigoniidae of Katydids, and the subfamily Conocephalinae of Coneheads.

    What's That Bug? bugman 2010

  • The Bible does not say that the rabbit belongs to the suborder of Ruminantia; that would have been a slip.

    Modern Science in the Bible Ben Hobrink 2011

  • Camels are now no longer included in the suborder of Ruminantia, but in a separate suborder of Tylopoda, which also chew their food twice.

    Modern Science in the Bible Ben Hobrink 2011

  • The Bible does not say that the rabbit belongs to the suborder of Ruminantia; that would have been a slip.

    Modern Science in the Bible Ben Hobrink 2011

  • Of course, in "The Speckled Band," we are meant to believe that a snake — deaf, like all of its suborder — could respond to a whistled signal.

    A three pipe problem Matthew Guerrieri 2009

  • Camels are now no longer included in the suborder of Ruminantia, but in a separate suborder of Tylopoda, which also chew their food twice.

    Modern Science in the Bible Ben Hobrink 2011

  • The Iguanidae family is only one of about 17 families of the lacertilian suborder; it includes the subfamilies of iguana iguanas (green) and spiny-tailed (black) iguanas which are abundant in the Puerto Vallarta, Mexico area.

    The Three Eyed Iguanas of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 2009

  • The Iguanidae family is only one of about 17 families of the lacertilian suborder; it includes the subfamilies of iguana iguanas (green) and spiny-tailed (black) iguanas which are abundant in the Puerto Vallarta, Mexico area.

    The Three Eyed Iguanas of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 2009

  • Iguanas are one of the five generally recognized infraorders of the lacertilian suborder of reptiles which includes all lizards.

    The Three Eyed Iguanas of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 2009

  • Iguanas are one of the five generally recognized infraorders of the lacertilian suborder of reptiles which includes all lizards.

    The Three Eyed Iguanas of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 2009

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