# subordinate

Pronunciation: US say "suh-BOR-di-nuht" /səˈbɔɹdɪnət/; UK say "suh-BAW-di-nuht" /səˈbɔːdɪnət/

## Noun

1. A person who holds a lower rank or position than someone else and answers to them.
   - Simple: A person with a lower rank or job than someone else, who takes orders from them.
   - _The general blamed his subordinates for the failed attack._
   - _After the reorganization she found herself managing her former boss as a subordinate._
8. A hyponym: a word whose meaning falls under that of a broader, more general word.
   - Simple: A word that names one kind of something more general, like 'oak' for 'tree'.
   - _Every subordinate inherits the features of its superordinate, so a poodle is still a dog._
   - _The thesaurus lists each broad term with its subordinates indented beneath it._

## Adjective

2. Belonging to a lower class, rank, or position than another.
   - Simple: Lower in rank, class, or position than something else.
   - _Officers of subordinate rank waited in the hallway while the generals met._
   - _The guide lists each genus first, with its subordinate species grouped beneath it._
3. Yielding or inferior to another, or under the control of an authority.
   - Simple: Below another person or thing in power or importance, or under their control.
   - _Under the new charter, the regional councils are subordinate to the national assembly._
   - _She insisted that personal ambition must stay subordinate to the needs of the team._
5. Of a clause, dependent on the main clause, which it either modifies or completes as a complement.
   - Simple: Used about a part of a sentence that cannot stand alone and adds to the main part.
   - _The editor flagged three fragments, each a subordinate clause cut off from its main clause._
   - _In a long sentence, putting the subordinate clause first can build suspense before the main point._

## Verb

Pronunciation: US say "suh-BOR-di-nayt" /səˈbɔɹdɪneɪt/; UK say "suh-BAW-di-nayt" /səˈbɔːdɪneɪt/

4. To place someone below others in importance or worth through one's treatment of them.
   - Simple: To treat a person as if they matter less than others.
   - _Novelists who subordinate their female characters often leave them with no inner life of their own._
   - _Her colleagues kept subordinating her in meetings, crediting her ideas to louder voices._
6. To place a clause inside a main clause as a dependent part of it.
   - Simple: To put one clause inside another, main clause, as a smaller part of it.
   - _Strong writers subordinate the weaker clause so the main clause carries the point._
   - _German subordinates a clause by moving its verb to the very end._
7. To give a debt or claim a lower place in the order of repayment if the debtor goes bankrupt.
   - Simple: To put a debt further back in line for being paid if the borrower goes bankrupt.
   - _As a condition of the rescue loan, existing lenders had to subordinate their claims to the new money._
   - _The bankruptcy court subordinated the insider's claim to those of ordinary creditors._

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Descending in a regular series.

## Origin

From Middle English subordinat, from Medieval Latin subōrdinātus, the past participle of subōrdināre, formed from sub- + ōrdināre ("to order").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/subordinate (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).