Meanings
- not comparableFormed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice.
1 more example
These streams continue to flow in winter as well as in summer, although in less quantity; […] It is also this melting beneath the ice (subglacial, suppose we call it) which loosens the ice from the ground, and occasions, or rather permits, the perpetual downward movement, with which "The glacier's cold and restless mass / Moves onward day by day."
1836 September 2, J. R., “Art. VI. Observations on the Causes which Occasion the Variation of Temperature between Spring and River Water.”, in J[ohn] C[laudius] Loudon, editor, The Magazine of Natural History, and Journal of Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, and Meteorology, volume IX, number 66, London: […] [Andrew Spottiswoode] for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, […], published October 1836, →OCLC, page 534Antonyms: supraglacial
- excessiveinformalnot comparableMoving at a rate allegedly slower than a glacier; extremely slow.
Securing political approval for even modest changes to railway organisation and structure has been of sub-glacial speed and complexity since 2004, when Government abolished the Strategic Rail Authority and put itself in charge.
2020 September 23, Nigel Harris, “Comment: We MUST Seize the Moment”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3Synonyms: glacial, crawling, slack, slow-moving, languid, languorous, draggy, tardy · Antonyms: cursory, express, fast, expeditious, feverish, fleet, fleeting, greased lightning
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveFormed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice.
adjectiveMoving at a rate allegedly slower than a glacier; extremely slow.
Origin
PIE word *upó From sub- (prefix meaning ‘beneath, under’) + glacial (“of or relating to glaciers; cold and icy; (figurative) very slow”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Basque glaziarpeko
- glaziarpekoformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Bulgarian подледниковото
- подледниковото (podlednikovoto)formed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Catalan subglacial
- subglacialformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Chinese Mandarin 冰下
- 冰下 (bīngxià)formed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Czech subglaciální
- subglaciálníformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Danish subglacial, isdækket
- subglacialformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
- isdækketformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Dutch subglaciale
- subglacialeformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Esperanto subglacia
- subglaciaformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Finnish subglasiaalinen, jäänalainen
- subglasiaalinenformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
- jäänalainenformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
- jäätikön alainenformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
- jäävuorta hitaampimoving at a rate allegedly slower than a glacier — see also slow
French subglaciaire
- subglaciaireformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
German subglazial
- subglazialformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Hindi हिमानीगत
- हिमानीगत (himānīgat)formed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Indonesian subglasial
- subglasialformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Italian subglaciale
- subglacialeformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Japanese 氷底
- 氷底 (hyōtei)formed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Korean 빙저
- 빙저 (bingjeo)formed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Latin subglacialis
- subglacialisformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Latvian subglaciālais, zemledus
- subglaciālaisformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
- zemledusformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Polish subglacjalne, podlodowcowe
- subglacjalneformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
- podlodowcoweformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Portuguese subglacial
- subglacialformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Russian подледнико́вый, подлёдный
- подледнико́вый (podlednikóvyj)formed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
- подлёдный (podljódnyj)formed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Spanish subglacial, subglaciar
- subglacialformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
- subglaciarformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Swedish subglacial
- subglacialformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Tagalog subglasyal
- subglasyalformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Turkish buzulaltı
- buzulaltıformed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Ukrainian підльодовикове
- підльодовикове (pidlʹodovykove)formed or occurring beneath a glacier or other body of ice
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with subglacial
Cite this entry
subglacial. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subglacial
“subglacial.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subglacial. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “subglacial,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subglacial.
Source: subglacial on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.