subnetwork
noun
sub·net·work
ˌsəb-ˈnet-ˌwərk 
variants
or sub-network
plural subnetworks or sub-networks
: a portion of a network : a network within a network
a health care subnetwork
telecommunications subnetworks
If the data's destination is within the local subnetwork, the bridge discards it, thus cutting down on unnecessary network traffic.—
Jackie Fox
Jackie FoxExamples of subnetwork in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Millions of people have called, texted, or sent chats to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline since mid-2022; about a tenth of those individuals who reached were routed to a specialized subnetwork for LGBTQ+ youth — a service the Trump administration ended last year.
—Deidre McPhillips, CNN Money, 29 Jan. 2026
Mixture-of-experts models achieve computational efficiency by routing tokens to specialized subnetworks, but dynamic routing creates load imbalance and communication overhead that generic GPU deployments struggle to handle.
—Janakiram Msv, Forbes.com, 19 Jan. 2026
The subnetwork was defunded by a federal directive of the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
—Steve Scauzillo, Daily News, 4 Sep. 2025
In a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a bipartisan group of Congressional representatives responded to the cut announcement, noting that the subnetwork has averaged approximately 2,100 contacts per day.
—ABC News, 4 July 2025
Ensemble learning breaks up the work of a neural network into specialized subnetworks called learner networks.
—Sven Bilén, IEEE Spectrum, 23 July 2020
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Deidre McPhillips, CNN Money, 29 Jan. 2026
Mixture-of-experts models achieve computational efficiency by routing tokens to specialized subnetworks, but dynamic routing creates load imbalance and communication overhead that generic GPU deployments struggle to handle.
—Janakiram Msv, Forbes.com, 19 Jan. 2026
The subnetwork was defunded by a federal directive of the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
—Steve Scauzillo, Daily News, 4 Sep. 2025
In a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a bipartisan group of Congressional representatives responded to the cut announcement, noting that the subnetwork has averaged approximately 2,100 contacts per day.
—ABC News, 4 July 2025
Ensemble learning breaks up the work of a neural network into specialized subnetworks called learner networks.
—Sven Bilén, IEEE Spectrum, 23 July 2020
Cite this Entry
“Subnetwork.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subnetwork. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.
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