# subordinate

/səˈbɔɹdəˌneɪt/ (US)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/subordinate
Updated: 2026-08-08

## Senses

### 1. an employee

noun · CEFR B2 · Formal

someone who has a lower position than someone else in an organization.

For teachers: a person under the authority or control of another within a hierarchy.

- The manager treats all his subordinates with respect and listens to their ideas.
- Effective leaders empower their subordinates by delegating meaningful tasks rather than merely overseeing routine administrative duties.

Usage: Commonly used in professional or military contexts to describe reporting lines.

### 2. lower in rank

adjective · CEFR B2 · Formal

having a lower or less important position.

For teachers: placed in or belonging to a lower order or rank.

- In many companies, the marketing department is subordinate to the sales department.
- The colonial administration held a subordinate position relative to the imperial parliament in London.

### 3. grammar

adjective · CEFR C1 · Technical

describes a part of a sentence that cannot stand alone and depends on the main part.

For teachers: dependent on a main clause; functioning as a modifier or complement within a complex sentence.

- In the sentence 'I left because it was raining', 'because it was raining' is a subordinate clause.
- Students often struggle with the punctuation of subordinate clauses when they precede the independent clause in academic writing.

Usage: Usually precedes 'clause' or 'conjunction'.

### 4. to make less important

verb · CEFR C1 · Academic · Formal

to treat something as less important than something else.

For teachers: to treat or regard as of lesser importance than something else; to make subservient.

- The government decided to subordinate environmental concerns to economic growth.
- Individual desires are often subordinated to the needs of the community in collectivist cultures.

Usage: Often used in the passive voice with the preposition 'to'.

## Examples

- The manager treats every subordinate with respect.
- Effective leaders listen to the concerns of their subordinates to maintain high morale within the department.
- The organizational restructuring aimed to empower subordinates by decentralizing decision-making processes that were previously held exclusively by senior executives.

---

From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.