subcommittee

S1U1B3C3O1M3M3I1T1T1E1E1
/ˈsʌb.kəˌmɪti/

noun

A committee formed by an existing committee, comprising a subset of its members.

Meanings

nounsubcommittee (plural subcommittees)

plural subcommittees

  1. A committee formed by an existing committee, comprising a subset of its members.

    Have you ever seen the televised St. Vitus subcommittee prize

    2003, R.E.M., “Bad Day”, in In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003
    3 more examples

    The society's museum sub-committee is aiming to gather narrow-gauge railway exhibits from throughout the British Isles, and further accommodation will be provided to house the growing collection.

    1957 June 28, J. J. Davis, “Narrow Gauge Railway Museum”, in Railway Magazine, page 393

    “We all know that this is a second-best option” said Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who chairs one of the Homeland Security subcommittees under Thompson.

    2021 July 12, Lauren Fox, Jeremy Herb, Annie Grayer and Ryan Nobles, “‘We’ll do this work as long as it takes’: Thompson readies for political fight leading Jan. 6 investigation”, in CNN

    The subcommittee report says that if evidence of the virus’ natural origin existed, it would have surfaced by now.

    2024 December 2, Katherine Dillinger, “House Covid-19 panel releases final report criticizing public health response to the pandemic”, in CNN

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*upó
  2. Proto-Italic*supo
  3. Latinsub
  4. Latinsub-
  5. Englishsub-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  7. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  8. Proto-Italic*kom
  9. Proto-Italic*kom-
  10. Latincon-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
  12. Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
  13. Proto-Indo-European*méyth₂eti
  14. Proto-Italic*meitō
  15. Old Latinmītō
  16. Latinmittō
  17. Latincommittō
  18. Middle Englishcommitten
  19. Englishcommit
  20. Englishcommittee
  21. Englishsubcommittee

From sub- + committee.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 小組委員會 /小组委员会
  • 小組委員會 /小组委员会 (xiǎozǔ wěiyuánhuì)committee within a committee
Czech podvýbor
  • podvýborcommittee within a committee
Danish underudvalg
  • underudvalgcommittee within a committee
Dutch ondercommissie
  • ondercommissiecommittee within a committee
Finnish alakomitea
  • alakomiteacommittee within a committee
French sous-comité
  • sous-comitécommittee within a committee
German Unterausschuss
  • Unterausschusscommittee within a committee
Hungarian albizottság
  • albizottságcommittee within a committee
Irish fochoiste
  • fochoistecommittee within a committee
Italian sottocomitato
  • sottocomitatocommittee within a committee
Norwegian Bokmål underkomité, underkomite
  • underkomitécommittee within a committee
  • underkomitecommittee within a committee
Polish podkomisja, podkomitet
  • podkomisjacommittee within a committee
  • podkomitetcommittee within a committee
Russian подкомите́т
  • подкомите́т (podkomitét)committee within a committee
Scottish Gaelic fo-chomataidh
  • fo-chomataidhcommittee within a committee
Spanish subcomité
  • subcomitécommittee within a committee
Swedish underutskott, subkommitté
  • underutskottcommittee within a committee
  • subkommittécommittee within a committee
Tagalog kublupon
  • kubluponcommittee within a committee
Vietnamese tiểu ban, phân ban
  • tiểu bancommittee within a committee
  • phân bancommittee within a committee
Cite this entry
APA

subcommittee. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subcommittee

MLA

“subcommittee.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subcommittee. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “subcommittee,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subcommittee.

Source: subcommittee on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.