Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use subordinate in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb

Subordinate means placed in a lower class, rank, or position. Example: “Stalin's propensity to play off his subordinates against one another is a well-studied theme.”

Examples of subordinate by meaning

adjectiveDependent 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”.

More sentences with subordinate

  • Stalin's propensity to play off his subordinates against one another is a well-studied theme.From the entry play off
  • Lore documents reveal that she was backstabbed by her subordinate, who wanted to become king, and she feels vengeful about it.From the entry lore
  • She slapped down her subordinate at the meeting.From the entry slap down
  • In some ways he's not a stellar officer, yet somehow most of his subordinates would follow him to the ends of the earth.From the entry follow someone to the ends of the earth
  • Traditional management structure consisted of a hierarchical tree of many-to-one communications (from subordinate to manager), with each manager often significantly filtering what he passed on to his manager.From the entry many-to-one
  • Regular acts of courage—bystanders defusing fights, subordinates standing up to abusive power holders—inspired awe.2023 January 3, Dacher Keltner, “The Quiet Profundity of Everyday Awe”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The…. From the entry common
  • In political terms Māori also organised for war in hapu, groups subordinate to chiefs, fighting as units.2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 68. From the entry hapu
  • As a result, if facts disconfirm the officially sanctioned theoretical vision, they are subordinated.2016 September 14, Paul Romer, “The Trouble with Macroeconomics”, in Working paper, page 15. From the entry disconfirm
  • Books in this category, he wrote, subordinated aesthetic, philosophical, and narrative values to the goal of arousal.2014, Sarah L. Leonard, Fragile Minds and Vulnerable Souls: The Matter of Obscenity in Nineteenth-Century Germany, Philadelphia, Pa.…. From the entry chronique scandaleuse
  • Morevover, it was the administrative seat of Jiangdu District, which was subordinated to the Yangzhou Route.2012, Hans Ulrich Vogel, Marco Polo Was in China, →ISBN. From the entry route
  • The dominance of a homonormative culture in Parades subordinates male heterosexuality to male homosexuality.2010, David Orzechowitz, “Gender, Sexuality, Culture and the Closet in Theme Park Parades”, in Christine L. Williams, Kirsten Dellinger…. From the entry homonormative
  • That is why there is usually a euphoric atmosphere whenever senior leaders address a subordinate audience.2010, Timothy L. Challans, Awakening Warrior: Revolution in the Ethics of Warfare, page 169. From the entry cheerleadership
  • More typically, these properties are lacking by virtue of one clause being subordinated to another.2008, Ronald W. Langacker, Cognitive Grammar: A Basic Introduction, pages 406, 412. From the entry complex sentence
  • A laissez-faire style, characterized by passive indifference about the task and subordinates, is essentially a nonstyle.2008, Montgomery Van Wart, Leadership in Public Organizations: An Introduction, page 274. From the entry nonstyle
  • “However you explain it, a boss who pokes fun of his subordinates like this is interpersonally insensitive.”2007 March 18, Matt Villano, “Your Manager Is a Bully (but You Aren’t Helpless)”, in New York Times. From the entry interpersonally
  • Cooley analyzes a passage to show how Pym here subordinates comedy to realism.1998, Four British Women Novelists: Anita Brookner, Margaret Drabble, Iris Murdoch, Barbara Pym: An Annotated and Critical Secondary…. From the entry churchish
  • Second, in both feeder and nonfeeder territories subordinate birds were less likely to be present than dominants.1992, Nicholas B. Davies, Dunnock behaviour and social evolution. From the entry nonfeeder
  • We should note that certain very small cities will be subordinate to the raion level.1987, Cameron Ross, “Introduction”, in Local Government in the Soviet Union: Problems of Implementation and Control, New York, N.Y.: St.…. From the entry raion
  • With Kessels' text there is no subordinate "who?" but only the epiplectic "why?"1979, Donald J. Mastronarde, Contact and Discontinuity: Some Conventions of Speech and Action on the Greek Tragic Stage, page 47. From the entry epiplectic
  • And why do some subordinate clause types embed more MCP than others?1976, Georgia M. Green, “Main Clause Phenomena in Subordinate Clauses”, in Language […], volume 52, Baltimore, Md.: […] Linguistic Society…. From the entry squish
  • She knew several ways to motivate subordinates — but how could she unmotivate someone?1976, Supervisory Management, page 37. From the entry unmotivate
  • The two subordinate Chinese keepers kept the light going for twelve days before relief came.1971, Patrick Beaver, “The Light-keeper's World”, in A History of Lighthouses, Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, published 1973, →ISBN, →LCCN…. From the entry Ockseu
  • He gets flypapered by a task that should be turned over to a subordinate.1967, Auren Uris, Keeping young in business, page 134. From the entry flypaper
  • Perhaps Big Brother was merely getting rid of a too-popular subordinate.1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished…. From the entry incompetence
  • I would dislike to see the Supreme Chapter become paternal in its nature twoard the subordinate chapters.1920, Desmos of Delta Sigma Delta, page 226. From the entry big brotherism
  • Including the uninhabited subordinate islands and reefs, the total are of the Dongyin Islet is 4.35 square kilometers.[2020s, “Introduction of Dongyin”, in Dongyin Township Administration, Matsu, archived from the original on 19 Oct 2021. From the entry Xiyin
  • The bureaucratist regime is one whose segmentation typically occurs on the basis of division between superordinates and subordinates (and their unions).2019, Ali Farazmand, Handbook of Comparative and Development Public Administration, page 243. From the entry bureaucratist
  • Gubernia were directly subordinate to the central administration in Vienna.2018, Jan Hájek, Milan Hlavačka, “The Birth of the Modern Czech Nation (1792–1848)”, in Petra Key, transl., edited by Jaroslav Pánek and…. From the entry gubernium
  • Subordinate clauses, by contrast, exhibit V1 or V2 only around 35% of the time, with the verb usually surfacing later.2013, George Walkden, “The status of hwæt in Old English”, in English Language and Linguistics, volume 17, number 3, →DOI. From the entry surface
  • They represent subordinate elements of the complexes and are positioned in front of the cella, on the axis of the entrance.2013, Andreas J. M. Kropp, Images and Monuments of Near Eastern Dynasts, 100 bc–ad 100, Oxford, Oxon: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page…. From the entry cavea
  • This will create a sense of disappointment in the subordinates concerned and they will feel that there was no fairplay.2006, V. Srinivasan, New Age Management: Philosophy from Ancient India. From the entry fairplay
  • Complex sentences are traditionally divided into two basic types: (i) sentences including co-ordinate clauses, and (ii) sentences including subordinate clauses.2004, Holger Diessel, The Acquisition of Complex Sentences, page 42. From the entry complex sentence
  • While she gave face to the director, his subordinates, and her colleagues, she had no face left to herself.2001, Wenshan Jia, The remaking of the Chinese character and identity in the 21st Century, page 135. From the entry give face
  • GWM master seeks obedient subordinate candidate to train.1996 October 4, “Variations”, in The Boston Phoenix, volume 25, number 40, Boston, Mass.: The Phoenix Media/Communications Group, Adult…. From the entry B+D
  • While Shaler remained subordinate, he followed Agassiz’s intellectual lead, often with the epigone’s habit of exaggerating his master’s voice.1991, Stephen Jay Gould, Bully for Brontosaurus, →ISBN. From the entry epigone
  • Here the use is not part of a predication but does not seem to be merely adverbially subordinate.1991, Frances Austin, “Points of English Syntax 1968-1983”, in Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade, John Frankis, N. E. Osselton, editors…. From the entry adverbially
  • The subordinates slashed the innocent sweeper's breasts.1978, Brajkishore Prasad, India Regained: A Dynastic Rule and the '77 Democratic Revolution, page 224. From the entry debreast
  • Meanwhile, a subordinate went north to Kinhwa and Yenchow and made alliances with secret societies in those prefectures.1971, Mary Backus Rankin, Early Chinese Revolutionaries Radical Intellectuals in Shanghai and Chekiang, 1902-1911, Harvard University…. From the entry Ch'ü-chou
  • The three subordinates on whom President Roosevelt depends to win his Senate victories are Majority Leader Joseph T.1937 February 22, “Judiciary: Visibility Poor”, in Time. From the entry horsetrader

Meaning of subordinate

  1. adjective Placed in a lower class, rank, or position.
  2. adjective Submissive or inferior to, or controlled by authority.
  3. adjective Dependent on and either modifying or complementing the main clause.

Full definition of subordinate

Questions about subordinate in a sentence

How do you use subordinate in a sentence?
Subordinate is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “Stalin's propensity to play off his subordinates against one another is a well-studied theme.”
What is a short sentence with subordinate?
“The subordinates slashed the innocent sweeper's breasts.”
What does subordinate mean?
Subordinate means placed in a lower class, rank, or position.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: subordinate (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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