submissive
Americanadjective
-
inclined or ready to submit or yield to the authority of another; unresistingly or humbly obedient.
submissive servants.
- Antonyms:
- disobedient, rebellious
-
marked by or indicating submission or a yielding to the authority of another.
a submissive reply.
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of submissive
Explanation
When animals live in packs, one animal is usually the dominant leader, while the others fall into more submissive roles. To be submissive is to obey or yield to someone else. When you are submissive, you submit to someone else's will, which literally, you put your own desires lower than theirs. You can see this in the Latin root of submit, submittere, which is formed by sub- "under" + mittere "send, put."
Vocabulary lists containing submissive
100 Top "SAT" Words
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Power Prefix: sub-
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Send a Message: Mit and Miss
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Submissive dogs also pass their head under the chin of dogs to whom they are paying their respects.
From Washington Post • Aug. 12, 2021
Submissive, obedient Cornelia showed another facet as superior of her little group: facing down carpenters and tradespeople, she got the new Society of the Holy Child Jesus off to a strong start.
From Time Magazine Archive
Submissive to their superiors, they obeyed the word of command which told them that they must march: they marched, and that was all.
From Memoirs of the Private Life, Return, and Reign of Napoleon in 1815, Vol. I by Fleury de Chaboulon, Pierre Alexandre Édouard, baron
What though in lonely grief I sigh For friends beloved, no longer nigh, Submissive still would I reply "Thy will be done!"
From Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul by Mudge, James
Submissive silence is sometimes the most eloquent confession of faith.
From Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah and Jeremiah by Maclaren, Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
