submissive

adjective

sub·​mis·​sive səb-ˈmi-siv 

: submitting to others

submissive employees

submissively adverb

submissiveness noun

Synonyms

• amenable
• biddable
• compliant
• conformable
• docile
• law-abiding
• obedient
• tractable

Examples of submissive in a Sentence

it's not in her nature to be submissive

Recent Examples on the Web

Solly: There’s a lot of discussion about that, because there’s conflicting views, but generally the idea is that Loeb was more of this gregarious social person who had a lot of charisma and Leopold was a lot quieter and more of the submissive person in their relationship. —Chris Klimek, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2024

Vulnerable kids Children who are introverted, anxious, or submissive are more likely to be bullied than kids who are extroverted and assertive. —Sherri Gordon, Clc, Parents, 20 June 2024

These stories about two people who are on the run or on the road, the dynamic shifts in which one person becomes more submissive and the other more dominant, where the accomplice becomes the person in control and in power, which is what happens in the video. —Raechal Shewfelt, EW.com, 7 June 2024

Her head is often bowed forward, as if in a perpetually submissive pose to the world at large, occasionally biting her nails and silently gesturing the Hail Mary. —Lewis Gordon, Vulture, 1 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1572, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

submissive

adjective

sub·​mis·​sive səb-ˈmis-iv 

: inclined or willing to submit to others : yielding

submissively adverb

submissiveness noun

Etymology

from Latin submissus, past participle of submittere "to let down," from sub- "under, below" and mittere "to send, throw" — related to message

Medical Definition

submissive

adjective

sub·​mis·​sive səb-ˈmis-iv 

: characterized by tendencies to yield to the will or authority of others

bullying usually involves a stronger, more dominant personality coercing a weaker, more submissive personality

—S. W. Twemlow et al.

submissiveness noun