English Explanatory Dictionary

subject

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Likely to be affected by or to experience something; liable.
  2. Conditional upon something; used with to.
  3. Placed or situated under; lying below, or in a lower situation.
  4. Placed under the power of another; owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state.
noun
  1. The noun, pronoun or noun phrase about whom the statement is made. In active clauses with verbs denoting an action, the subject is the actor. In clauses in the passive voice the subject is the target of the action.
  2. By faulty generalisation from a clause's grammatical subject often being coinstantiated with one: an actor or agent; one who takes action.
  3. The main topic of a paper, work of art, discussion, field of study, etc.
  4. A particular area of study.
  5. A citizen in a monarchy.
  6. A person ruled over by another, especially a monarch or state authority.
  7. The main theme or melody, especially in a fugue.
  8. A human, animal, or an inanimate object that is being examined, treated, analysed, etc; especially, one being studied in a scientific experiment, such as a clinical trial.
  9. A being that has subjective experiences, subjective consciousness, or a relationship with another entity.
  10. That of which something is stated.
  11. The variable in terms of which an expression is defined.
verb
  1. To cause (someone or something) to undergo a particular experience, especially one that is unpleasant or unwanted.
  2. To make subordinate or subservient; to subdue or enslave; to subjugate.

Pronunciation

sŭbʹjĕkt /ˈsʌb.d͡ʒɛkt/ /ˈsʌb.d͡ʒɪkt/ en-us-subject-noun.ogg səb-jĕktʹ /səbˈd͡ʒɛkt/ /sʌbˈd͡ʒɛkt/ en-us-subject-verb.ogg

Word forms

subject more subject most subject subjects subjecting subjected

Etymology

From Middle English subget, from Old French suget, from Latin subiectus (“lying under or near, adjacent, also subject, exposed”), as a noun, subiectus (“a subject, an inferior”), subiectum (“the subject of a proposition”), past participle of subiciō (“throw, lay, place”), from sub (“under, at the foot of”) + iaciō (“throw, hurl”), as a calque of Ancient Greek ὑποκείμενον (hupokeímenon).

Synonyms

matter topic underbring

Antonyms

object predicate

Related words

object predicate

Derived words

fee simple subject to condition subsequent fee simple subject to executory interest fee simple subject to executory limitation subjectness unsubject vested remainder subject to open between-subjects change the subject cosubject countersubject drop the subject dummy subject echo subject federal subject historical subject impersonal subject intersubject intrasubject introductory subject metasubject minor subject multisubject nonsubject null-subject language oblique subject postsubject preparatory subject presubject quirky subject short subject subject case subject clause subject complement subject-control subjectdom subject heading subjecthood subjectification subjectify subject indexing subjectist subjective subjectless subjectlike subject matter subject-matter subject matter jurisdiction subject of labor subject-oriented subject pronoun subjectship subject title subjectwise tool subject within-subjects subjecter resubject subjectable
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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