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subject definition

sub·ject (subjikt, -jekt′; for v. səb jekt)

adjective

  1. under the authority or control of, or owing allegiance to, another subject peoples
  2. having a disposition or tendency; liable (to) subject to fits of anger
  3. liable to receive; exposed (to) subject to censure
  4. contingent or conditional upon (with to) subject to your approval

Etymology: ME suget < OFr < L subjectus, pp. of subjicere, to place under, put under, subject < sub-, under + jacere, to throw: see jet

noun

  1. a person under the authority or control of another; esp., a person owing allegiance to a particular ruler, government, etc.
  2. someone or something made to undergo a treatment, experiment, analysis, dissection, etc.
  3. Etymology: L subjectum, foundation, subject (transl. of Gr to hypokeimenon) < neut. of subjectus: see subjectthe

    something dealt with in discussion, study, writing, painting, etc.; theme
  4. the main theme or melody of a musical composition or movement, esp., the opening theme in a fugue
  5. originating cause, reason, or motive
  6. any of the various courses of study in a school or college; branch of learning
  7. Gram. the noun or other substantive that is one of the two immediate constituents of a sentence and about which something is said in the predicate
  8. Logic that part of a proposition about which something is said; that which is affirmed or denied
  9. Philos.
    1. the actual substance of anything as distinguished from its qualities and attributes
    2. the mind, or ego, that thinks and feels, as distinguished from everything outside the mind

Etymology: ME suget < OFr < L subjectus: see subjectthe

transitive verb

  1. Obsolete to place under or below
  2. to bring under the authority or control of; cause to owe allegiance
  3. to make liable or vulnerable to subject oneself to the contempt of others
  4. to cause to experience or receive some action or treatment to subject someone to interrogation, subject a new drug to rigorous testing
  5. Rare to place before; submit a plan subjected for approval

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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