subordination

noun

sub·​or·​di·​na·​tion sə-ˌbȯr-də-ˈnā-shən 

: placement in a lower class, rank, or position : the act or process of subordinating someone or something or the state of being subordinated

Humans signal subordination by bowing, groveling, laughing at the boss’s jokes, kissing the don’s ring, saluting and so on.

—Frans de Waal

The price is individual subordination to the group and limited autonomy of the nuclear family.

—Corinne N. Nydegger

After 1688, as before, the message was one of subordination to divinely constituted authority, whether of kings or of one's social superiors.

—Richard W. Davis

Synonyms

• compliance
• conformity
• obedience
• submission

Examples of subordination in a Sentence

an oligarchy requires subordination by the masses to the will of a tiny elite

Recent Examples on the Web

In the early 1900s, there was a rise in Black Nationalist organizations that refused to cower in the face of KKK violence or submit to societal subordination. —Kimberly Fain, JSTOR Daily, 5 July 2017

Now, the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has maintained that the bilateral relationship should be based on cooperation and not subordination, is obliged to treat the issue of migration and drug trafficking with caution. —Anna Lagos, WIRED, 24 Jan. 2025

From China’s perspective, this strategy is the country’s best (and only) hope to arrest recent economic malaise and to avoid subordination to the United States. —Reva Goujon, Foreign Affairs, 27 Dec. 2024

In Gilead, women exist in complete subordination to men, especially the handmaids, a class of women who are still fertile despite an ongoing environmental catastrophe that has decimated birth rates. —Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 7 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1595, in the meaning defined above

Legal Definition

subordination

noun

sub·​or·​di·​na·​tion sə-ˌbȯrd-ᵊn-ˈā-shən 

: an act or instance of subordinating

also : the remedy of subordinating a claim see also equitable subordination