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# suboptimal

«suboptimal» in Mova's school dictionary: **not as good as it could be; in plain words, poor or bad** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (suboptimal; not usually compared)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (euphemism, jargon) not as good as it could be; in plain words, poor or bad. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suboptimal/#m1)

2) (technical) not the best possible solution in maths or computing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suboptimal/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

Used in business, science and polite criticism to avoid saying "bad"; jargon, all regions. Often humorous understatement.

### examples

- The results were suboptimal: we lost ten nil. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suboptimal/#x1)
- The weather for the picnic was suboptimal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suboptimal/#x2)
- That route is suboptimal; the other way is shorter. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suboptimal/#x3)
- "Suboptimal" is a fancy way of saying it went wrong. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suboptimal/#x4)
- The computer found a suboptimal answer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suboptimal/#x5)
- Forgetting your PE kit on match day is suboptimal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suboptimal/#x6)

### note

Often an understatement for "bad". In maths, "optimal" means best; suboptimal is anything worse than the best answer.

### In the corpora

- ["Suboptimal" (jargon) means bad or poor.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/32-religion-fate-failure/23/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «suboptimal» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suboptimal/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.