Meaning of subject in English

  1. Pronunciation

    /ˈsəbdʒɛkt/

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  1. Verb

    subject

    Definitions

    1. cause to experience or suffer or make liable or vulnerable to

    Examples

    • « He subjected me to his awful poetry »
    • « The sergeant subjected the new recruits to many drills »
    • « People in Chernobyl were subjected to radiation »
  2. 2. make accountable for

    Examples

    • « He did not want to subject himself to the judgments of his superiors »
  3. 3. make subservient

    Examples

    • « force to submit or subdue »
  4. 4. refer for judgment or consideration

    Examples

    • « She submitted a proposal to the agency »

  5. Classifying Adjective

    subject

    Definitions

    1. possibly accepting or permitting

    Examples

    • « a passage capable of misinterpretation »
    • « open to interpretation »
    • « an issue open to question »
    • « the time is fixed by the director and players and therefore subject to much variation »

    Synonyms

  6. 2. being under the power or sovereignty of another or others

    Examples

    • « subject peoples »
    • « a dependent prince »

    Synonyms

  7. Noun

    subject

    Etymology

    Middle English (in the sense ‘(person) owing obedience’): from Old French suget, from Latin subjectus‘brought under’, past participle of subicere, from sub-‘under’ + jacere‘throw’. Senses relating to philosophy, logic, and grammar are derived ultimately from Aristotle's use of to hupokeimenon meaning ‘material from which things are made’ and ‘subject of attributes and predicates’

    Definitions

    1. the subject matter of a conversation or discussion

    Examples

    • « he didn't want to discuss that subject »
    • « it was a very sensitive topic »
    • « his letters were always on the theme of love »
  8. 2. some situation or event that is thought about

    Examples

    • « he kept drifting off the topic »
    • « he had been thinking about the subject for several years »
    • « it is a matter for the police »
  9. 3. a branch of knowledge

    Examples

    • « in what discipline is his doctorate? »
    • « teachers should be well trained in their subject »
    • « anthropology is the study of human beings »
  10. 4. something (a person or object or scene) selected by an artist or photographer for graphic representation

    Examples

    • « a moving picture of a train is more dramatic than a still picture of the same subject »
  11. 5. a person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures

    Examples

    • « someone who is an object of investigation »
    • « the subjects for this investigation were selected randomly »
    • « the cases that we studied were drawn from two different communities »
  12. 6. a person who owes allegiance to that nation

    Examples

    • « a monarch has a duty to his subjects »
  13. 7. (grammar) one of the two main constituents of a sentence

    Examples

    • « the grammatical constituent about which something is predicated »
  14. 8. (logic) the first term of a proposition