submicroscopic

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   too small to be seen with an ordinary microscope; smaller than microscopic scale

   The theory describes submicroscopic particles that cannot be observed directly with optical instruments.

Formed from sub- ("below, smaller than") + microscopic. In scientific use it marks a scale beneath the resolving power of ordinary microscopes, often the molecular, atomic, or subatomic scale.

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