ENGLISH
REFERENCE

submit

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate Oxford US //səbˈmɪt// UK //səbmˈɪt// sub·mit Academic Archaic General-service

v. to give a document or a piece of work to someone in authority so they can look at it or grade it. You also use this when you accept that someone else has power over you.

v. to present a document, proposal, or piece of work for consideration or judgment; alternatively, to yield to the authority or will of another. Transitive in its administrative sense; often intransitive when describing an act of surrender.


SIMPLE

Please submit your application by Friday.

CONTEXTUAL

Students must submit their final essays through the online portal before the midnight deadline to avoid a late penalty.

COMPLEX

While the defendant chose to submit to the court's jurisdiction, his legal team continued to argue that the initial evidence was gathered through improper channels.

Synonyms
Origin

From Middle English submitten, borrowed from Latin submittere, infinitive of submittō (“place under, yield”), from sub (“under, from below, up”) + mitto (“to send”). Compare upsend.

Usage

In the sense of handing in work, it is transitive and takes a direct object. In the sense of yielding, it often takes the preposition 'to'.

Pitfall

I submitted to the teacher my homeworkI submitted my homework to the teacherWhen using 'submit' for documents, the direct object should follow the verb immediately before the prepositional phrase.

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