suborn

American  

[suh-bawrn] / səˈbɔrn /

verb (used with object)

• suborns,
  present (3rd person singular)
• suborned,
  past participle,  past
• suborning
  present participle

1. to bribe or induce (someone) unlawfully or secretly to perform some misdeed or to commit a crime

   The drug cartel suborned the local police department to turn a blind eye to their trafficking.

2. Law.

   1. to induce (a person, especially a witness) to give false testimony.

   2. to obtain (false testimony) from a witness.

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suborn British  

/ ˌsʌbɔːˈneɪʃən, səˈbɔːn, sʌˈbɔːnətɪv /

verb

1. to bribe, incite, or instigate (a person) to commit a wrongful act

2. criminal law to induce (a witness) to commit perjury

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subornation
  noun
• suborner
  noun
• subornative
  adjective
• unsuborned
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• suborning
  present
• suborned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• suborn
  simple
• suborns
  simple
• have suborned
  perfect
• has suborned
  perfect
• am suborning
  progressive
• are suborning
  progressive
• is suborning
  progressive
• have been suborning
  perfect progressive
• has been suborning
  perfect progressive

Past

• suborned
  simple
• had suborned
  perfect
• was suborning
  progressive
• were suborning
  progressive
• had been suborning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will suborn
  simple
• will have suborned
  perfect
• will be suborning
  progressive
• will have been suborning
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of suborn

First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin subornāre “to instigate secretly, prepare clandestinely,” originally, “to supply,” equivalent to sub-, preposition and prefix + ornāre “to equip,” from an assumed ordnāre, a derivative of the noun ordō (stem ordin- ) “line, row, rank, grade”; see origin at sub-, order

Explanation

One of the reasons Mafia bosses are so good at avoiding prison is that they know how to suborn witnesses and jurors — that is, to bribe people to lie. After all, it wouldn't be nice if an accident were to happen on the way to court, right? Technically speaking, suborn doesn't just mean induce someone to conveniently "forget" something in the witness stand, or otherwise get creative with their imagination. An inducement to any kind of crime is suborning, but by far the most common use is in the legal sense above. Or "witness tampering," as the cops call it.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

suborn suborns suborned suborning

Mr. Ahamed, an unapologetic silver man, goes so far in his advocacy of remedial government action as to suborn the long-departed author of “Lombard Street,” published in 1873, to bear false witness.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026

"It is absolutely an adversary in some areas, which tries to steal our intellectual property, or suborn our citizens," says Lord Ricketts.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2025

“While government agents are permitted to coach cooperating witnesses during the course of an investigation,” he said in an order, “they are not permitted to suborn the commission of a crime.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2020

He’s so important that people even pour their efforts into trying to corrupt or suborn him.

From The Verge ● Feb. 4, 2019

His original intention had been to attempt to suborn him, and render him pliable by bribery; but now that the moment for action was arrived he dared not make the offer.

From Love-at-Arms by Rafael Sabatini

It suborns witnesses, nurses perjury, defiles the jury box, and stains the judicial ermine.

From Ingersollia Gems of Thought from the Lectures, Speeches, and Conversations of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, Representative of His Opinions and Beliefs by Robert Green Ingersoll

Rosen said Thursday that when Meredith was approached by the FBI after the hotel room sting, Singer’s sprawling conspiracy and his network of allegedly suborned coaches “wasn’t on our radar.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2019

With plenty of money to spread around, Bandar charmed -- which in this context means suborned -- the Washington establishment, while ingratiating himself with successive presidents and various other power brokers.

From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2018

National policy is suborned, on some issues, to the vetoes and powers of the larger union.

From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2018

Try saying something like that at one of those business-sponsored conferences where bullheaded billionaires and those whom they’ve effectively suborned are telling us we need to get much tougher with our children.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 27, 2017

He suborned Kaan’s eastern neighbor, Naranjo, which attacked Mutal’s former ally, Oxwitza’.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

The newly elected disrict attorney said his office's stance on the case could change if the brothers "completely accept responsibility for their lies of self-defense and the attempted suborning of perjury they engaged in".

From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2025

Bergman, a dubious character who was the brother of famed journalist Lowell Bergman, was investigated but never charged for suborning the testimony of McMahon’s former secretary, Emily Feinberg, at McMahon's 1994 trial on steroid-trafficking charges.

From Salon ● Jan. 27, 2024

And: “Congress can permissibly criminalize certain obstructive conduct by the President, such as suborning perjury, intimidating witnesses, or fabricating evidence.”

From Slate ● May 29, 2019

Similarly, if Richard Nixon had not been worried about the truth, he would not have been suborning perjury.”

From Washington Post ● Apr. 24, 2018

It is related that the younger of two brothers had endeavoured to deprive the elder of an estate of £500 a year by suborning witnesses to declare that he died in a foreign land.

From Strange Pages from Family Papers by T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton) Dyer