Meanings
comparative more subrisive · superlative most subrisive
- literaryrarePlayful, tongue-in-cheek.
This half-hearted and somewhat subrisive denial, however, must be taken merely as a concession to the Sorbonne and to the fashionable exegesis of his own day; and, even so, the Sorbonne was too much in the end for the philosophic thinker.
1885, Grant Allen, Charles Darwin, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton and Company, page 9
Origin
- Latinsubrīdeō“to smile”
- New Latinsubrisivus“amusing”
- Englishsubrisive
Borrowed from New Latin subrisivus (“amusing”), from Latin subrīdeō (“to smile”).
More words from New Latin, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
subrisive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subrisive
“subrisive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subrisive. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “subrisive,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subrisive.
Source: subrisive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.