subjugation
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of subjugation
First recorded in 1425–75; from Late Latin subjugation-, stem of subjugatio, equivalent to subjugat(us), past participle of subjugare “to make subject” + -io -ion ( def. ); see subjugate ( def. )
Explanation
Subjugation is like oppression or conquest: one group takes control over another and forces them to do as they're told. Subjugation is one of many types of injustice in the world. It has to do with one group of people dominating another group by taking away their freedom. When slavery was legal in the U.S., that was a clear-cut case of subjugation: African-Americans were forced to live without rights, under the control of their white owners. To remember this word, think of its Latin root subjugat, which means "brought under a yoke."
Vocabulary lists containing subjugation
Words from "The Avengers"
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The Pearl
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"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" by Patrick Henry (1775)
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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.
And could other advanced, independent civilizations have also flourished within China’s current borders before their subjugation?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Koreans began immigrating to Los Angeles in the early 1900s as Korea lost independence to Japan, with a formal subjugation in 1910.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2025
The 14th and 15th Amendments were ratified to establish an enduring multiracial democracy, explicitly empowering Congress to end the subjugation of nonwhite Americans.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2025
He is strongly critical of what he sees as the official “instrumentalisation” of the 1954-1962 war of independence against France; and of what he sees as the continuing subjugation of women in Algerian society.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2024
People of color, because of the history of racial subjugation and exclusion, often experience success and failure vicariously through the few who achieve positions of power, fame, and fortune.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle 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.
