subdeficiencyn.

1635 D. Person Varieties ii. 63 Albeit the Heaven, Fire, and Ayre move in a circular motion, yet they move not all alike,..the Ayre as neerest to the Earth, is slower than the other two. By this subdeficiency then, the Ayre..seemes but to goe about from Occident to Orient of its own proper motion.

1939 E. J. Bigwood Guiding Princ. Stud. Nutrition of Populations ii. 154 The excessive depletion of their reserves disclosed in the one case a pre-existing latent sub-deficiency of the scorbutic type.

1942 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 25 Apr. 525/2 In theory, and often in practice, one can interpolate between these states every degree of subdeficiency or suboptimal nutrition.

1972 Social Sci. & Med. 6 315 The notion of deficiency or sub-deficiency diseases (nutritional or endocrine) is non-existent in the African traditional terminology.

2000 J. Coveney Food, Morals, & Meaning vi. 83 A child's appearance is not a sufficiently reliable indicator of good health since it may be hiding subtle signs of pre-clinical disease due to a sub-deficiency of vitamins and minerals.