Meaning & use
subduing
Last updated
“subduing” is a form of “subdue”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitive
Bringing someone or something under control, often by force, so that it can no longer resist or cause trouble.
Grammar: Takes an object: the guards are subduing the intruder.
Patterns
- subduing someone
- subduing something
The police were subduing the man when more officers arrived.
The army spent months subduing the rebel region.
Firefighters worked all night subduing the blaze.
verbtransitive
Making a feeling, sound or color weaker, softer or less strong.
Grammar: Takes an object: subduing your anger, subduing the lights.
Patterns
- subduing a feeling
- subduing a sound
She spent the meeting subduing her irritation with a calm smile.
Heavy curtains were subduing the noise from the street.
The designer kept subduing the bright colors with soft gray tones.
Word forms
| base form | subdue |
|---|---|
| third person singular | subdues |
| past tense | subdued |
| past participle | subdued |
Common combinations
- subduing a suspect
- The officers were credited with subduing the suspect without injury.
- subduing an uprising
- The king succeeded in subduing the uprising within weeks.
- subduing your emotions
- He had trouble subduing his emotions at the funeral.
- subduing a fire
- Crews were busy subduing the fire on the hillside.
- subduing effect
- The thick snow had a subduing effect on the whole city.
Synonyms and how they differ
- overpowering
- Overpowering stresses winning through greater strength, while subduing also covers calming something that is already weakened.
- suppressing
- Suppressing means stopping something from showing or spreading, and is often used for rebellions or feelings, while subduing focuses on bringing under control.
- restraining
- Restraining means holding someone back physically and does not imply defeating them.
- softening
- Softening is gentler and only fits the sense of reducing intensity, not controlling by force.
Opposites
Word family
- subdue verb
- to bring under control or make weaker
- subdued adjective
- quiet, low in mood, or soft in tone
- subduer noun
- a person who subdues, rare
- subduction noun
- a geology term for one plate sliding under another; unrelated in meaning
Commonly confused: subduing or subtle?
subduing vs subtle
Subtle means delicate or hard to notice, and does not mean controlling something. The two are sometimes mixed up because of their similar look and sound.
Practice
The nurses spent an hour ______ the frightened patient before the examination.
Choose one answer.
The sentence needs a verb for making someone calmer. Subduing would fit a stronger, controlling context, but calming is the sensible match here and the other options mean the opposite.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “subduing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.