- 1地下的、地底的；引申指「暗中潛伏的」
Subterranean means under the ground. It describes caves, rivers, tunnels, car parks, passages — anything below the earth's surface. It is a formal and rather grand word; , news articles and novels use it, while in ordinary speech people say 'underground'. Because of that grandness it often carries a feeling of mystery: a subterranean world, a subterranean lake nobody has seen. It also works figuratively for things that are hidden and moving quietly beneath the surface of a situation — 'subterranean tensions in the family', meaning trouble that is really there but out of sight. As a noun it is rare; you may meet it in older writing for an underground place or for someone who lives below ground, but you should treat it as an adjective. Note it is not usually used for ordinary things like a basement — you would just say 'the basement'.
組成sub- (under) + terra (earth, land) + -anean/-an (making an adjective). Literally: belonging to under the earth.
同家族的字
- terrainsame Latin terra 'earth' — the shape of the land
- territorysame terra — an area of land
- Mediterraneansame terra with medi- 'middle' — the sea in the middle of the land
- terracesame terra — a raised flat piece of earth
原始詞典資料3 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
subterraneanadj/ˌsʌbtəˈɹeɪniən/
- 1
Below ground, under the earth, underground.
- Again the bearers took up the coffin, and cold and damp the subterranean air came from the opened vault. The tapers were lowered, and shed a ghastly light on the rows of piled coffins, and the moisture glittering on the walls.
- And you were in the parking lot / Subterranean by your own design
- 2
Secret, concealed.
- The subterranean tool of buying rigged opinion polling and media coverage is outlined in remarkable detail in chat exchanges recovered from the cellphone of one of Mr. Kurz’s closest allies and friends, Thomas Schmid.
subterraneannoun/ˌsʌbtəˈɹeɪniən/
- 1
Someone or something that is subterranean.
- [H]e continues Lean like a Hawke or Heron, notwith ſtanding his devouring Appetite: yet it would ſeem that they convey that ſubſtance elſewhere, for theſe Subterraneans eat but little in their Dwellings; […]
- Whatever elſe the Tauric Cimmerium have been right or wrong called, it is no leſs ſurely a capital of darkneſs, than, near the famous Baths of Baiae, in Campania, the Cimmerium, where the inhabitants were truly Cimmerian; as miners, or other ſubterraneans; who, for good or evil purpoſe, never faced the ſun.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。