Meaning of subordinate in English

subordinate

adjective

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/səˈbɔː.dɪ.nət/ us

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/səˈbɔːr.dən.ət/

having a lower or less important position:

a subordinate role

subordinate status

The individual's needs are subordinate to those of the group.

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Organizations - position & status

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Of little or less importance

subordinate

noun [ C ]

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/səˈbɔː.dɪ.nət/ us

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/səˈbɔːr.dən.ət/

subordinate noun [C] (PERSON)

a person who has a less important position than you in an organization:

He left the routine checks to one of his subordinates.

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Organizations - position & status

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Of little or less importance

subordinate noun [C] (WORD)

language specialized

a word whose meaning is included in the meaning of another word:

"Dog" is a subordinate of the category "pet".

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superordinate

subordinate

verb [ T ]

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/səˈbɔː.dɪ.neɪt/ us

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/səˈbɔːr.dən.eɪt/

to put someone or something into a less important position:

Her personal life has been subordinated to her career.

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Promoting staff

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Of little or less importance

(Definition of subordinate from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

subordinate | American Dictionary

subordinate

adjective

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/səˈbɔr·dən·ət/

having a lower or less important position:

I’m happy in a subordinate role.

subordinate

noun [ C ] us

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/səˈbɔr·dən·ət/

You need to assign this job to a subordinate.

subordinate

verb [ T ]

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/səˈbɔr·dənˌeɪt/

to treat someone or something as less important than something else:

Japan has a tradition of subordinating individual desires to group goals.

subordination

noun [ U ] us/səˌbɔr·dənˈeɪ·ʃən/

She studies patterns of domination and subordination among orangutans.

(Definition of subordinate from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

subordinate | Business English

subordinate

adjective

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/səˈbɔːdənət/ us

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WORKPLACE

having less power or a lower position than someone else in a company or an organization:

subordinate to sb The condition of motherhood often makes women subordinate to men in the workplace.

a subordinate employee/position/role Before reaching the level of head chef, there was the hard work and subordinate positions in kitchens.

Women are in the minority in the office and are of subordinate status to most of their male colleagues.

less important than something else:

Primary legislation can be amended; subordinate legislation cannot.

subordinate to sth The institute will make the acquired debt subordinate to any new bank lending.

[ before noun ] FINANCE

→ subordinated

subordinate

noun [ C ]

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/səˈbɔːdənət/ us

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WORKPLACE

a person who has a less important position than you in a company or an organization:

Senior managers had to convince their colleagues and subordinates of the value of this approach.

subordinate

verb [ T ]

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/səˈbɔːdɪneɪt/ us

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to put someone or something into a less important position:

Management found itself subordinated to the markets.

(Definition of subordinate from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of subordinate

subordinate

Certainly, subordinating local definitions to the dictum of the science of race required negotiation, and in some cases even training.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

He points out that his example (5.26) - given here in (1) - ' with how understood as modifying treat their subordinates, is completely impossible ' (147).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

More examples Fewer examples

Although these subordinating conjunction markers have lost their criterion of identity in semantics, they still retain noun-like properties in syntax.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Rather, legal authorities attempt to guide conduct by affecting the intentional agency of their subordinates.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the hands and minds of some, chemistry was subordinated to the dictates and needs of medicine.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the following examples, it may appear that these subordinating conjunctions can be modified by a demonstrative determiner.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Authentic texts also displayed a tendency toward having a higher incidence of adjectives and subordinating conjunctions and prepositions, but these findings only approached significance.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They also allow the dominant state to offer more valuable benefits to subordinates, such as security guarantees, military aid, and so on.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The evident physical presence of music became subordinated to the higher reality of transcendental perfection.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

As an act of will, choice is intellectually motivated, and some motives are subordinated to others.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There were a succession of such men-leaders of pay demands, subordinates with their own methods.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

His words and deeds defined the bad citizen inversely : one who succumbed to self-interested ambition and subordinated the public good to the personal.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

If superiors do not treat their subordinates with respect and dignity, why should people treat those below themselves any differently?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The subordinating conjunction in this case is a member of the set subordinator.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, case-by-case consideration acknowledges that academic freedom may, under unusual or extreme circumstances, be justifiably subordinated to other fundamental values.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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