SUBDUE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does subdue mean? 

• SUBDUE (verb)
  The verb SUBDUE has 6 senses:

1. put down by force or intimidation

2. bring under control by force or authority

3. hold within limits and control

4. get on top of; deal with successfully

5. make subordinate, dependent, or subservient

6. correct by punishment or discipline

  Familiarity information: SUBDUE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUBDUE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they subdue    ... he / she / it subdues   
Past simple: subdued   
Past participle: subdued   
-ing form: subduing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put down by force or intimidation

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

keep down; quash; reduce; repress; subdue; subjugate

Context example:

The rich landowners subjugated the peasants working the land

Hypernyms (to "subdue" is one way to...):

crush; oppress; suppress (come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

subduer (someone who overcomes and establishes ascendancy and control by force or persuasion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bring under control by force or authority

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

conquer; stamp down; subdue; suppress

Context example:

conquer one's desires

Hypernyms (to "subdue" is one way to...):

check; contain; control; curb; hold; hold in; moderate (lessen the intensity of; temper; hold in restraint; hold or keep within limits)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "subdue"):

choke back; choke down; choke off (suppress)

hush; hush up; quieten; shut up; silence; still (cause to be quiet or not talk)

burke (get rid of, silence, or suppress)

silence (keep from expression, for example by threats or pressure)

quell; quench; squelch (suppress or crush completely)

quench (electronics: suppress (sparking) when the current is cut off in an inductive circuit, or suppress (an oscillation or discharge) in a component or device)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

subduer (someone who overcomes and establishes ascendancy and control by force or persuasion)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Hold within limits and control

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

crucify; mortify; subdue

Context example:

mortify the flesh

Hypernyms (to "subdue" is one way to...):

check; contain; control; curb; hold; hold in; moderate (lessen the intensity of; temper; hold in restraint; hold or keep within limits)

"Subdue" entails doing...:

abstain; desist; refrain (choose not to consume)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "subdue"):

mortify (practice self-denial of one's body and appetites)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 4

Meaning:

Get on top of; deal with successfully

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

get over; master; overcome; subdue; surmount

Context example:

He overcame his shyness

Hypernyms (to "subdue" is one way to...):

beat; beat out; crush; shell; trounce; vanquish (come out better in a competition, race, or conflict)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "subdue"):

bulldog (throw a steer by seizing the horns and twisting the neck, as in a rodeo)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Make subordinate, dependent, or subservient

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

subdue; subordinate

Context example:

Our wishes have to be subordinated to that of our ruler

Hypernyms (to "subdue" is one way to...):

lour; lower (set lower)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Correct by punishment or discipline

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

chasten; subdue; tame

Hypernyms (to "subdue" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

 Context examples 

He walked across the room, and came back to the same place; holding the chair with a grasp that trembled, like his subdued voice, in its earnestness.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The two ladies looked over it together; and he sat smiling and talking to them the whole time, in a voice a little subdued, but very audible to every body.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Oh, strong, strong are the ties of flesh, and hard it is to subdue the spirit!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My father was waiting for us at the door with an expression of subdued delight upon his face.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I felt pain, and then I felt ire; and then I felt a determination to subdue her—to be her mistress in spite both of her nature and her will.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Every little while, however, one dog or another would flame up in revolt and be promptly subdued.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The delightful emotions were a little subdued, when on stepping back from the group, to be joined again by Captain Wentworth, she saw that he was gone.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Poor Jo tried desperately to be good, but her bosom enemy was always ready to flame up and defeat her, and it took years of patient effort to subdue it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the great city.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The fever was subdued; the fever had been his complaint; of course he would soon be well again.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)