subside
Americanverb
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to become less loud, excited, violent, etc; abate
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to sink or fall to a lower level
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(of the surface of the earth, etc) to cave in; collapse
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(of sediment, etc) to sink or descend to the bottom; settle
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of subside
First recorded in 1640–50; from Latin subsīdere, from sub- sub- + sīdere “to sit down, settle” ( see also sit 1)
Explanation
To subside is to die down or become less violent, like rough ocean waves after a storm has passed (or your seasickness, if you happened to be sailing on that ocean). Subside comes from the Latin prefix sub- (meaning "down") and the Latin verb sidere (meaning "to settle"). Subside is often used when a negative situation has improved significantly. For example, violence, disease, and unemployment can all subside. Here's hoping that they do.
Vocabulary lists containing subside
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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The Giver
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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.
That tragic admission provides the climax of The Wind Will Not Subside, an absorbing, provocative narrative of China's Cultural Revolution.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Wind Will Not Subside contains occasional patches of grandiloquent prose echoing the stilted polemics of Peking.
From Time Magazine Archive
Into what such a chaos will Subside, it would be silly to attempt to guess.
From The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford — Volume 4 by Walpole, Horace
Oh, at first I took the anger easily, nor much299 Minded the anguish—having learned that storms Subside, and teapot-tempests are akin.
From Browning's England A Study in English Influences in Browning by Clarke, Helen Archibald
Subside, vile discord, and again return to your true 'legiance.
From The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Raspe, Rudolf Erich
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.
