subordinate.
Placed in a lower class, rank, or position.
Meaning & usage
Placed in a lower class, rank, or position.
Submissive or inferior to, or controlled by authority.
dependent on and either modifying or complementing the main clause
In the sentence “The barbecue finished before John arrived”, the subordinate clause “before John arrived” specifies the time of the main clause, “The barbecue finished”.
Descending in a regular series.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English subordinat, from Medieval Latin subōrdinātus, past participle of subōrdināre, from sub- + ōrdināre (“to order”).
One who is subordinate.
A hyponym.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English subordinat, from Medieval Latin subōrdinātus, past participle of subōrdināre, from sub- + ōrdināre (“to order”).
To make subservient or secondary. To embed (a clause) into another clause that is the main one.
To make subservient or secondary. To make of lower priority in order of payment in bankruptcy.
To treat (someone) as of less value or importance.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English subordinat, from Medieval Latin subōrdinātus, past participle of subōrdināre, from sub- + ōrdināre (“to order”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.