- (a.) Placed or situated under; lying below or in a lower situation.
- (a.) Obedient; submissive.
- (a.) That which is placed under the authority, dominion, control or influence of something else.
- (a.) That in which any quality, attribute or relation, whether spiritual or material, inheres or to which any of these appertain; substance; substratum.
- (a.) That which is subjected or submitted to, any physical operation or process; specifically (Anat.), a dead body used for the purpose of dissection.
- (n.) The principal theme or leading thought or phrase, on which a composition or a movement is based.
- (v.t.) To cause to undergo; as, to subject a substance to a white heat; to subject a person to a rigid test.
- (v.t.) To bring under control, power or dominion; to make subject; to subordinate; to subdue.
- (a.) That which is brought under thought or examination; that which is taken up for discussion or concerning which anything is said or done.
- (a.) That of which anything is affirmed or predicated; the theme of a proposition or discourse; that which is spoken of; as, the nominative case is the subject of the verb.
- (a.) Hence, that substance or being which is conscious of its own operations; the mind; the thinking agent or principal; the ego. Cf. Object, n., 2.
- (v.t.) To make subservient.
- (a.) Specifically: One who is under the authority of a ruler and is governed by his laws; one who owes allegiance to a sovereign or a sovereign state; as, a subject of Queen Victoria; a British subject; a subject of the United States.
- (a.) Placed under the power of another; specifically (International Law), owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state; as, Jamaica is subject to Great Britain.
- (a.) The person who is treated of; the hero of a piece; the chief character.
- (v.t.) To submit; to make accountable.
- (a.) Exposed; liable; prone; disposed; as, a country subject to extreme heat; men subject to temptation.
- (n.) The incident, scene, figure, group, etc., which it is the aim of the artist to represent.
- (v.t.) To expose; to make obnoxious or liable; as, credulity subjects a person to impositions.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
| APA | Webster's. (2011). subject. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/subject/definitions/2067675 |
| Chicago | Webster's. 2011. "subject" http://smartdefine.org/subject/definitions/2067675 (accessed September 20, 2026). |
| Harvard | Webster's 2011, subject, Smart Define, viewed 20 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/subject/definitions/2067675>. |
| MLA | Webster's. "subject" 28 May 2011. Web. 20 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/subject/definitions/2067675> |