subject
Pluralsubjects
Verbsubjects, subjecting, subjected
Pluralsubjects
Formssubjects, subjecting, subjected
- 1What a paper, artwork, discussion, field of study, or the like is mainly concerned with; its central topic.
The novel's central subject is the cost of ambition.
The lecture touched on several subjects before settling on one.
UsageCommon frames: on the subject of, change the subject.
Similartopic, theme, focus, matter, issue
Note
Baroness Orczy's narrator in The Case of Miss Elliott has "a good think on the subject of the hocussing of Cigarette." A person can be the subject as well as a theme. In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Antonio calls himself "th' unhappy subject of these quarrels," meaning the quarrels are all about him.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Baroness Orczy wrote The Case of Miss Elliott, whose narrator uses the quoted phrase. gutenberg.net.au
- Antonio speaks the quoted words in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. folger.edu
- The quoted use means that the quarrels are about Antonio. en.wiktionary.org
- 2Likely to experience or be affected by something; liable.
Prices in the market are subject to sudden swings.
Coastal towns here are subject to powerful storms each winter.
UsageFollowed by to and a noun or -ing form: subject to delays, subject to sudden swings.
Similarliable, prone, susceptible, vulnerable, exposed
Oppositeimmune, exempt, impervious
Note
Latin subiectus could already mean "exposed," and that is the idea here: a thing lies open to whatever it is subject to. Dryden's Mac Flecknoe gives the grand version: "All human things are subject to decay."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Latin subiectus could mean exposed. en.wiktionary.org
- John Dryden's Mac Flecknoe contains the quoted line. rpo.library.utoronto.ca
- 3A particular area of study, such as a school or university course.
Biology was the only subject that truly held his interest.
Students must choose their subjects by the end of the year.
Similarcourse, discipline, field, area, branch
- 4Dependent on something else happening or being satisfied; followed by to.
The merger remains subject to regulatory approval.
All reservations are subject to availability at the time of booking.
Similarconditional, contingent, dependent
Oppositeunconditional
Note
Here subject to works almost like a single preposition. It hangs off the end of a clause and attaches a condition to it: the local board sets policy, subject to approval from the State Board. Whatever follows to is the condition, which may be met beforehand or, as with a later review, only afterward.
- 5To expose someone or something to a particular treatment or experience, especially an unpleasant or unwelcome one.
The regime subjected dissidents to years of harsh imprisonment.
Investigators may subject any witness to repeated questioning.
UsageSubject someone to something, often passive: be subjected to abuse.
Note
The verb arrived by its own route, through Medieval Latin subiectō, a repeated-action form of the same "throw under" verb behind the adjective and the noun.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The verb derives from Medieval Latin subiectō, an iterative form of subiciō. en.wiktionary.org
- The adjective and noun ultimately derive from the same Latin verb, subiciō. en.wiktionary.org
- Subiciō means throw under. en.wiktionary.org
- 6A human, animal, or object being examined, treated, or analyzed, especially one studied in a scientific experiment such as a clinical trial.
Before the trial began, every subject signed a consent form.
Researchers monitored the subjects' blood pressure throughout the week.
UsageOften in test subjects, human subjects, or a subject of a study.
Similarparticipant, volunteer, patient, case
Note
Here the word names whoever, or whatever, is on the receiving end of scrutiny: the person a biography follows, the patient under hypnosis, the animal in a trial. Conyers Middleton's Life of Cicero (1741) warns that biographers grow partial to their subject.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Conyers Middleton wrote Life of Cicero, first published in 1741. collections.soane.org
- Middleton's Life of Cicero warns that biographers become partial to their subjects. en.wiktionary.org
- 7Someone or something that an action or response is aimed at, for example criticism, threats, an attack, or an investigation.
The new tax has been the subject of fierce criticism from small businesses.
The journalist was the subject of repeated threats after her report aired.
UsageUsually in be the subject of: the subject of criticism, of an inquiry.
Note
In news reports, the subject of an investigation is a careful, neutral phrase that names someone under scrutiny without accusing them.
- 8The heading line of an email or similar message, giving a brief idea of its topic.
Messages with vague subjects like "Hi" are easy to overlook in a busy inbox.
Type "Updated schedule" in the subject before you forward the email to the team.
UsageAlso called the subject line: type a few words in the subject.
- 9Someone who lives under the rule of another, particularly of a monarch or the state.
A loyal subject obeyed the laws handed down by the king.
The emperor demanded tribute from all his subjects.
UsageOften with the ruler: the king's subjects, his loyal subjects.
Similarcitizen, vassal, subordinate
Less common meanings
- 10The noun, pronoun, or noun phrase about which a statement is made; in active clauses it usually names the doer of the action, and in passive clauses the one acted upon.
In 'The cake was eaten by Sam,' the subject is 'the cake,' not Sam.
A plural subject takes a plural verb form.
Note
A position in the sentence, not a role in the event. In "the mouse was eaten by the cat," the mouse is the subject even though it suffers the action, and the cat, the doer, is the agent. The term pairs against two different words. Against object, it sorts the noun phrases of a clause. Against predicate, it splits the clause into what it is about and what is said of it.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Grammatical subject and semantic agent are distinct: in the passive example, the mouse is the subject and the cat is the agent. en.wikipedia.org
- Subject and object distinguish syntactic functions within a clause. en.wikipedia.org
- The traditional subject–predicate analysis divides a clause into its subject and what is said about it. en.wikipedia.org
- 11Living under another's authority, and owing loyalty to a particular ruler or state.
As a subject territory, the island answered to the crown across the water.
The conquered tribes remained subject to the emperor for several generations.
UsageBefore a noun, as in a subject territory, or followed by to: subject to the emperor.
Similarsubordinate, subservient, dependent, tributary, vassal
Oppositeindependent, sovereign, autonomous, free
- 12To bring a person, people, or country under the control of another, often by force; to subdue or enslave.
The conquerors set out to subject the islanders to their rule.
Within a single summer, the invading army had subjected every town in the valley.
UsageOften subject a people to someone's rule.
Similarsubjugate, subdue, enslave, conquer, oppress
Oppositeliberate, free, emancipate
- 13That about which something is stated or asserted in a proposition.
Logicians distinguish the subject of a proposition from what is predicated of it.
In that claim, the planet itself is the subject, and its motion is asserted of it.
Oppositepredicate
Note
Logic's counterpart to the grammatical subject, defined by what is said rather than by where a word sits. In a proposition, the subject is what something is asserted of, and the predicate is what is asserted, so the two terms always come as a pair. Latin subiectum already meant "the subject of a proposition," so the sense came into English ready-made.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The logical subject is identified by what an assertion concerns, rather than solely by word order, and subject and predicate are paired in traditional propositional analysis. gutenberg.org
- Latin subiectum already meant the subject of a proposition. en.wiktionary.org
- English inherited this logical meaning from Latin. en.wiktionary.org
- 14The principal theme or melody on which a composition is built, especially the opening idea of a fugue.
The organist introduced the subject before the other voices entered.
Bach develops a single subject through dozens of inventive variations.
Note
Musicians borrowed the word for the line that everything else in a piece answers to, much as a painting has its topic. William Smith Rockstro's entry in Grove's A Dictionary of Music and Musicians traces it back to church music: "The earliest known form of Subject is the Ecclesiastical Cantus firmus." The fugue is where the term is used most strictly today.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- William Smith Rockstro wrote the entry titled Subject in A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. en.wiktionary.org
- The church-music attribution is accurate, but the original sentence ends at “Cantus firmus.” The words “or plain song” are absent. en.wikisource.org
- 15An actor or agent; the one who takes action or performs a deed.
Similaragent, actor, perpetrator, doer, protagonist
Note
A meaning born of a shortcut. Because the grammatical subject so often names the doer, the word came to mean the doer itself. It lives most comfortably in paired phrases such as the subjects and objects of power, where subjects act and objects are acted upon. As a loose extension, it sits awkwardly beside the strict grammatical term, where a subject need not act at all.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Grammatical subjects commonly name the doer. glossary.sil.org
- A grammatical subject need not perform an action. en.wikipedia.org
- 16The variable that a formula expresses in terms of the other variables, usually standing alone on one side of the equation.
To find the radius, students rearranged the equation until r became the subject.
Making v the subject of the formula lets you work out the speed directly from the other values.
UsageThe set phrase is make x the subject of the formula.
Note
You rearrange x² − 6x + 3y = 0 until you reach x = 3 ± √(9 − 3y), a formula that gives x directly once y is known. Any letter can be made the subject, so the same equation can be rewritten to solve for y instead. The skill is called rearranging, and the subject is simply the letter you rearrange toward.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The stated rearrangement is algebraically correct: completing the square gives (x − 3)² = 9 − 3y, hence x = 3 ± √(9 − 3y). This follows by applying the source's method. openstax.org
- Either variable in this equation can be isolated; solving for y gives y = (6x − x²)/3, by applying the source's rearrangement rule. learninglab.rmit.edu.au
- 17A conscious being that has subjective experiences and awareness, or that stands in a relationship to another entity.
- 18Placed or situated underneath something; lying below or in a lower position.
Long he them bore above the subject plain
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Latin subiectus ("lying under, exposed," or as a noun "a subject") passed through Old French suget into Middle English as subget. It was the past participle of subicio ("to throw or place"), built from sub ("under") and iacio ("to throw"). The philosophical use of the neuter form subiectum is a calque of Ancient Greek hupokeimenon.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
- Latin subiectus meant “lying under, exposed” and, as a noun, “a subject”. en.wiktionary.org
- The word passed from Latin through Old French suget into Middle English as subget. en.wiktionary.org
- Subiectus was the past participle of subicio. en.wiktionary.org
- Subicio is glossed as “to throw or place”. en.wiktionary.org
- Subicio was formed from sub, meaning “under”, and iacio, meaning “to throw”. en.wiktionary.org
- Subiectum is the neuter form of subiectus. en.wiktionary.org
- The philosophical use of subiectum is a calque of Ancient Greek hupokeimenon. en.wiktionary.org
Latin subicio ("to throw or place"), from sub ("under") and iacio ("to throw"), had the past participle forms subiectus ("a subject, an inferior") and subiectum ("the subject of a proposition"), and English took the word from these.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- Latin subicio meant to throw or place. en.wiktionary.org
- Subicio derives from sub, meaning under, and iacio, meaning throw. en.wiktionary.org
- Subiectus and subiectum are past participle forms of subicio. en.wiktionary.org
- Subiectus was used as a noun meaning a subject or inferior. en.wiktionary.org
- Subiectum meant the subject of a proposition. en.wiktionary.org
- English subject derives from these Latin forms. en.wiktionary.org
Built as an iterative of the verb subicio ("to throw or place"), which itself is made of sub ("under") and iacio ("to throw"), the Medieval Latin form subiecto is the source of this word.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The verb subject derives from Medieval Latin subiecto. en.wiktionary.org
- Subiecto is an iterative of subicio. en.wiktionary.org
- Subicio means to throw or place. en.wiktionary.org
- Subicio is formed from sub meaning under and iacio meaning to throw. en.wiktionary.org