Meanings
plural subsets
- mathematicsA set A such that every element of A is also an element of S.
The set of integers is a subset of the set of real numbers.
4 more examples
The set #92;lbracea,b#92;rbrace is a both a subset and a proper subset of #92;lbracea,b,c#92;rbrace while the set #92;lbracea,b,c#92;rbrace is a subset of #92;lbracea,b,c#92;rbrace but not a proper subset of #92;lbracea,b,c#92;rbrace.
1963, David B. MacNeil, Modern Mathematics for the Practical Man, David Van Nostrand, Republished as 2013, David B. MacNeil, Fundamentals of Modern Mathematics: A Practical Review, Dover, page 3, In the foregoing example, the set D of the first four letters of the alphabet, was a subset of the set A of all the letters of the alphabet, because A includes all the members of D.
Let A be a subset of the topological space X and take x#92;inX.
1997, Wolfgang Filter, K. Weber, Integration Theory, Chapman & Hall, page 5We say that a set S has a finite partition into subsets S#95;1,#92;dots,S#95;n, if S#61;S#95;i#92;cup#92;dots#92;cupS#95;n, where the subsets are pairwise disjoint, that is, S#95;i#92;capS#95;j#61;#92;empty, if i#92;nej. (We do not require that the subsets be nonempty.)
2007, Judith D. Sally; Paul J. Sally, Jr., Roots to Research: A Vertical Development of Mathematical Problems, American Mathematical Society, page 280 - A group of things or people, all of which are in a specified larger group.
We asked a subset of the population of the town for their opinion.
1 more example
Interestingly, this [the core lexicon] is not all of the words of the language: It turns out that most of the words in a language from an industrialized culture come from narrow semantic domains, such that only a subset of speakers know them.
2025, Edward A. F. Gibson, “Introduction” (chapter 1), in Syntax: A Cognitive Approach, MIT Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 2
present singular third person subsets · participle present subsetting · participle past subsetted · past subsetted
- transitiveTo take a subset of.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*upó
- Proto-Italic*supo
- Latinsub
- Latinsub-
- Englishsub-
- Middle Englishset
- Englishset
- Englishsubset
Translations
Bulgarian подмножество
- подмножество (podmnožestvo)set whose elements are within another given set
Catalan subconjunt
- subconjuntset whose elements are within another given set
Chinese Mandarin 子集
- 子集 (zǐjí)set whose elements are within another given set
Czech podmnožina
- podmnožinaset whose elements are within another given set
Danish delmængde
- delmængdeset whose elements are within another given set
Dutch deelverzameling
- deelverzamelingset whose elements are within another given set
Estonian alamhulk
- alamhulkset whose elements are within another given set
Finnish osajoukko, osajoukko
- osajoukkoset whose elements are within another given set
- osajoukkogroup contained in a larger group
French sous-ensemble, sous-ensemble
- sous-ensembleset whose elements are within another given set
- sous-ensemblegroup contained in a larger group
German Untermenge, Teilmenge
- Untermengeset whose elements are within another given set
- Teilmengeset whose elements are within another given set
Greek υποσύνολο
- υποσύνολο (yposýnolo)set whose elements are within another given set
Hebrew תת קבוצה
- תת קבוצהset whose elements are within another given set
Hindi उपसमुच्चय
- उपसमुच्चय (upasmuccay)set whose elements are within another given set
Hungarian részhalmaz
- részhalmazset whose elements are within another given set
Icelandic hlutmengi
- hlutmengiset whose elements are within another given set
Irish fo-thacar
- fo-thacarset whose elements are within another given set
Italian sottoinsieme, sottogruppo
- sottoinsiemeset whose elements are within another given set
- sottogruppogroup contained in a larger group
Japanese 部分集合
- 部分集合 (bubun jūgō)set whose elements are within another given set
Korean 부분집합
- 부분집합 (bubunjiphap)set whose elements are within another given set
Polish podzbiór, podgrupa
- podzbiórset whose elements are within another given set
- podgrupagroup contained in a larger group
Portuguese subconjunto, subconjunto
- subconjuntoset whose elements are within another given set
- subconjuntogroup contained in a larger group
- subgrupogroup contained in a larger group
Romanian submulțime, subgrup
- submulțimeset whose elements are within another given set
- subgrupgroup contained in a larger group
- subclasăgroup contained in a larger group
Russian подмно́жество, подгру́ппа
- подмно́жество (podmnóžestvo)set whose elements are within another given set
- подгру́ппа (podgrúppa)group contained in a larger group
Spanish subconjunto
- subconjuntoset whose elements are within another given set
Swedish delmängd
- delmängdset whose elements are within another given set
Tagalog kubtangkas
- kubtangkasset whose elements are within another given set
Ukrainian підмножина́
- підмножина́ (pidmnožyná)set whose elements are within another given set
Vietnamese tập hợp con, tập con
- tập hợp conset whose elements are within another given set
- tập conset whose elements are within another given set
Welsh is-set, is-set
- is-setset whose elements are within another given set
- is-setgroup contained in a larger group
- isgasgliadgroup contained in a larger group
Cite this entry
subset. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subset
“subset.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subset. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “subset,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subset.
Source: subset on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.