subjugate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
subjugates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
subjugated,
past participle, past
-
subjugating
present participle
verb
-
to bring into subjection
-
to make subservient or submissive
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
subjugationnoun
-
subjugatornoun
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nonsubjugableadjective
-
self-subjugatingadjective
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subjugableadjective
-
unsubjugatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
subjugatesimple
-
subjugatessimple
-
have subjugatedperfect
-
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
-
subjugatedsimple
-
had subjugatedperfect
-
was subjugatingprogressive
-
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
The energy transition, activists say, must serve the island, not subjugate it.
From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2024
They were going to subjugate all of the Far East.
From "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand
It recounts the terror of falling in love—how the process subjugates people, leaves them vulnerable.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 1, 2018
It's just another way our society subjugates men's emotions and it's really a shame.
From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2015
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
Mr. Bonsor, although not lacking in susceptibility, was entirely devoid of that courage which subjugates the feminine heart.
From Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert George Jenkins
Kaunda's message was clear - black Africans must no longer be subjugated.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
The pavilions are scattered in seemingly haphazard fashion, in keeping with Mr. Govan’s conviction that visitors should follow their own curiosity and make their own connections without being subjugated to a hierarchy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
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
“We’re not the subjugated and disenfranchised people that we were,” he said.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2023
Yet a third theory is that the Zapotec of Monte Alban—not the Olmec of La Venta—consolidated to form North America’s first imperialist power, an aggressive state that subjugated dozens of other villages.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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
In nearly every tale that involves a subjugating force, the individual bucking the system may win the day but lose the war.
From Salon ● Dec. 29, 2025
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
A colonialist at heart, he is only truly at peace when subjugating, collecting and filing away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2023
On the left bank of the Tiber near Mount Circeli, dwelt of old the war-like Volsci, who gave the Romans no little trouble before those universal conquerors succeeded in subjugating them.
From Rule of the Monk or, Rome in the Nineteenth Century by Giuseppe Garibaldi
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.
