subjugate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
-
to bring into subjection
-
to make subservient or submissive
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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subjugationnoun
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subjugatornoun
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nonsubjugableadjective
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self-subjugatingadjective
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subjugableadjective
-
unsubjugatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
subjugatesimple
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subjugatessimple
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have subjugatedperfect
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has subjugatedperfect
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am subjugatingprogressive
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are subjugatingprogressive
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is subjugatingprogressive
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have been subjugatingperfect progressive
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has been subjugatingperfect progressive
Past
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subjugatedsimple
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had subjugatedperfect
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was subjugatingprogressive
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were subjugatingprogressive
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had been subjugatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of subjugate
1400–50; late Middle English < Late Latin subjugātus, past participle of subjugāre to subjugate, equivalent to sub- sub- + jug ( um ) yoke 1 + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
If you say you won't be kept down by the man, you are saying that you won't let the man subjugate you. To subjugate is to repress someone, or to make them subservient to you. In subjugate you see the word subject. In this word, it's not talking about the subject of a sentence, rather it's talking about the kind of subjects that Kings have serving them. Subjugate is to reduce someone's status to that of a subject. It's a royal demotion, often brought by force or intimidation.
Vocabulary lists containing subjugate
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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.
See Examples For:
He was just a young man looking at a symbol of power and not caring much about who that power was used to subjugate.
From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2026
In 1876 President Ulysses S. Grant ordered the Army to subjugate the traditionals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
As he told the court that Combs had used his fame and power to "subjugate" his victims, the music mogul did not look up, remaining expressionless for the judge's 20-minute speech.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2025
They are only a sticking point for would-be kings and despots who successfully deceive and subjugate the masses.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2025
They were going to subjugate all of the Far East.
From "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand
It is, perhaps, a double whammy: The hierarchy that subjugates her also shames her.
From New York Times ● Sep. 17, 2021
It recounts the terror of falling in love—how the process subjugates people, leaves them vulnerable.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 1, 2018
I read all the recent controversy surrounding Elisabeth Badinter's book, The Conflict, in which Badinter suggests breastfeeding and attachment parenting subjugates working women.
From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2012
On the other, it has tended to finesse or sidestep the issue of whether polygamy itself, or polygamy as practiced by the Henricksons, empowers or subjugates women.
From Time ● Mar. 21, 2011
It occupies the mind, subjugates the will, and leads captive the heart.
From Old Wine and New Occasional Discourses by Cross, Joseph
Mr. Higham accepts that these newcomers violently subjugated some regions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
Kaunda's message was clear - black Africans must no longer be subjugated.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
Mina’s father flouted strictures; Sade’s mother subjugated herself to them — that is, until Sade went to jail on a serious felony and compassion for her daughter awakened her long-dormant maternal loyalty.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2025
Catanzaro Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, one of Italy's best-known anti-Mafia investigators, said in a press conference that regional politicians and public administrators had been "subjugated" by mobsters during 2014-2020.
From Reuters ● Jun. 27, 2023
Perhaps we are the invaded ones, the subjugated, used.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
However, once Hernán Cortés triumphed, the conquistadors went from waging war — vanquishing the Aztecs — to the project of subjugating Indigenous holdouts and building a self-sustaining territory loyal to the crown.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2026
Aubrecht watches from afar as Yscalin falls to Fýredel, its ruler and populace subjugating themselves to the cruel dragons, desperate to avoid their wrath.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
His administration has helped keep Russia from subjugating the country, which was part of the Soviet Union before achieving its independence in 1991.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 12, 2023
He campaigned nearly every year of his reign, conquering land and subjugating peoples across central Europe.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
To a positively decisive extent, the success of the National forces in subjugating the Southern States turned on the sea power.
From The Ifs of History by Chamberlin, Joseph Edgar
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.
