Meaning & use
subordinate
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Meanings
nouncountableformal
A person who has a lower rank in an organization and takes instructions from a superior.
Grammar: Countable, often with a possessive: his subordinates.
Patterns
- a subordinate of someone
- one of someone's subordinates
The manager praised her subordinates for their hard work.
He asked a subordinate to bring the files.
Good leaders listen to their subordinates.
adjectivecomparableformal
Lower in rank or less important than something else.
Grammar: Often followed by to: subordinate to the board.
Patterns
- subordinate to someone
- a subordinate role
She did not enjoy her subordinate role in the project.
The assistant is subordinate to the director.
Safety must never be subordinate to profit.
adjectivebefore a nountechnical
In grammar, describing a clause that cannot stand alone because it depends on a main clause.
Grammar: Used before a noun: a subordinate clause.
Patterns
- subordinate clause
In the sentence, because it rained is a subordinate clause.
Students learned to spot the subordinate clause.
A subordinate clause cannot form a complete sentence alone.
verbtransitiveformal
To treat something as less important than something else.
Grammar: Takes an object plus to: subordinate profit to safety. Pronounced with a final long a.
Patterns
- subordinate something to something
Parents often subordinate their own needs to their children's.
The new law subordinates local rules to national ones.
He refused to subordinate his principles to his career.
Word forms
| plural | subordinates |
|---|---|
| third person singular | subordinates |
| past tense | subordinated |
| -ing form | subordinating |
Common combinations
- subordinate clause
- A subordinate clause often starts with although or because.
- subordinate role
- He accepted a subordinate role in the new team.
- direct subordinate
- She has six direct subordinates.
- subordinate to
- The committee is subordinate to the board.
- subordinate officer
- The subordinate officer saluted the colonel.
Synonyms and how they differ
- junior
- Junior stresses lower rank or age within a team, whereas subordinate stresses a reporting relationship to someone above.
- underling
- Underling is a disapproving word for a low-ranking person, which makes it harsher than subordinate.
- inferior
- Inferior suggests lower quality or status and can be insulting, while subordinate only describes position in a hierarchy.
- secondary
- Secondary means second in importance and applies to things, not people.
Opposites
Word family
- subordination noun
- the state of being lower in rank or importance
- insubordinate adjective
- refusing to obey authority
- insubordination noun
- refusal to obey a person of higher rank
- coordinate verb
- to organize things so they work together as equals
Commonly confused: subordinate or insubordinate?
subordinate vs insubordinate
Insubordinate describes someone who disobeys a superior, whereas subordinate simply describes lower rank.
Practice
In a company, a subordinate is someone who:
Choose one answer.
A subordinate has a lower rank and takes direction from a superior. The other options describe leaders or independent workers.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “subordinate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.