subnormal
subnormal Lexical Profile
subnormal Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Below the normal, average, or expected standard, level, or quantity, especially regarding physical measurements such as body temperature or weather patterns.
"The patient presented with a subnormal body temperature after hours of exposure to the freezing rain."
Having less than normal intelligence or developmental capacity (now dated and offensive).
"Mid-twentieth-century clinical textbooks often used the term subnormal to categorize individuals with intellectual disabilities."
• noun
In geometry, the part of the axis of a curve intercepted between the ordinate of a point on the curve and the normal to the curve at that same point.
"In a parabola, the length of the subnormal is constant for all points along the curve."
A person whose intelligence or developmental capacity is below the normal standard (now dated and offensive).
"Early educational reform acts sought to establish specialized schooling for those then classified as subnormals."
Word Nuance & Usage
While 'subnormal' remains standard in scientific, meteorological, and medical contexts to describe measurements below a normal range (such as temperature or rainfall), its historical use to describe people with intellectual disabilities or below-average intelligence is now considered dated and offensive.