subjection
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of subjection
1300–50; Middle English < Latin subjectiōn- (stem of subjectiō ) a throwing under, equivalent to subject- ( see subject) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Subjection is when a person, group, or government forces another person — or group of people — to submit or be controlled. A dictator's power lies in his subjection of the people over whom he rules. Many kinds of control can be called subjection, but it most often describes a political rule or the subjugation of a large group of people. Slavery is one terrible, extreme type of subjection, and a king's conquering of a neighboring kingdom is another type. Subjection comes from the Old French subjection, "submission, inferior condition, or captivity," with a Latin root, subjectionem, a putting under."
Vocabulary lists containing subjection
1984
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Novel Study: Antigone, Pages 1–21
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On Liberty
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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.
As an advocate of equality, moreover, he was an important supporter of women’s rights, and his essay On the Subjection of Women played an influential role in the nineteenth-century women’s rights movement.
From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022
When he was a student in Madrid 40 years ago, Mr. Prats Monné read the “The Subjection of Women” by John Stuart Mill and was deeply affected by it.
From New York Times • Dec. 2, 2017
This longer-term, optimistic perspective has deep roots in economics, and was articulated eloquently in “The Subjection of Women,” John Stuart Mill’s 19th-century essay.
From New York Times • Sep. 13, 2014
"Subjection to fantasy and infatuation with the idea of power" were elements that Elizabeth Bowen found in the history of her own Irish forebears, but with a difference.
From Time Magazine Archive
Then I began to write, weaving the strands I’d found in Hume’s Principles of Morals with filaments from Mill’s The Subjection of Women.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
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.
