subordinate
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.someone who has a lower position than someone else in an organization.
n.a person under the authority or control of another within a hierarchy.
Simple“The manager treats all his subordinates with respect and listens to their ideas.”
In context“Effective leaders empower their subordinates by delegating meaningful tasks rather than merely overseeing routine administrative duties.”
UsageCommonly used in professional or military contexts to describe reporting lines.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
adj.having a lower or less important position.
adj.placed in or belonging to a lower order or rank.
Simple“In many companies, the marketing department is subordinate to the sales department.”
In context“The colonial administration held a subordinate position relative to the imperial parliament in London.”
- 03 C1 Advanced
adj.describes a part of a sentence that cannot stand alone and depends on the main part.
adj.dependent on a main clause; functioning as a modifier or complement within a complex sentence.
Simple“In the sentence 'I left because it was raining', 'because it was raining' is a subordinate clause.”
In context“Students often struggle with the punctuation of subordinate clauses when they precede the independent clause in academic writing.”
UsageUsually precedes 'clause' or 'conjunction'.
SynonymsAntonyms - 04 C1 Advanced
v.to treat something as less important than something else.
v.to treat or regard as of lesser importance than something else; to make subservient.
Simple“The government decided to subordinate environmental concerns to economic growth.”
In context“Individual desires are often subordinated to the needs of the community in collectivist cultures.”
UsageOften used in the passive voice with the preposition 'to'.
Antonymsprioritizeexalt
“Astronomer Heino Falcke, physicist Michael Wondrak and mathematician Walter van Suijlekom from Radboud University had previously demonstrated that the event horizon plays a subordinate role in the origin of the radiation.”
“These were classified into five major metaphor frames and 10 subordinate metaphor types.”
From Middle English subordinat, from Medieval Latin subōrdinātus, past participle of subōrdināre, from sub- + ōrdināre (“to order”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.