subordination
/sə,bɔ:di'neiʃn/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- The act of placing someone or something in a lower rank or position of control: The process of making one person or thing subject to the authority or control of another.
- The state of being less important or secondary to something else: The condition of being treated as or belonging to a lower rank or class.
- Obedient or submissive quality: The characteristic of being willing to obey or yield to authority.
- Grammatical relation: The syntactic relationship where one linguistic element (e.g., a clause or phrase) modifies, depends on, or is governed by another, its head.
- Semantic relation: The meaning-based relationship where one concept is of a lower rank or class than another.
Usage and Examples
- General Usage:
- The subordination of individual desires to the needs of the group is often necessary in a team. (Placing personal wishes below group needs.)
- She resented the subordination of her department's projects to the new corporate initiative. (Her projects were made secondary.)
- Grammatical Usage:
- In the sentence "I left because I was tired," the clause "because I was tired" shows subordination to the main clause. (A dependent clause modifying the main clause.)
- Describing a State or Quality:
- His complete subordination to the leader's will worried his friends. (His obedient submission.)
Advanced Usage
- "Subordination of (X) to (Y)": A common structure to express what is being made secondary and to what.
- The subordination of personal gain to public service is a noble ideal.
- In Finance: Refers to the ranking of debt repayment, where "subordinated debt" has lower priority.
- Holders of subordinated debt bear greater risk due to their lower claim in the repayment hierarchy.
Variants and Related Words
- Subordinate (verb/noun/adjective): To place in a lower rank / A person or thing of lower rank / Lower in rank or position.
- Managers should not subordinate their staff's well-being to profits. (Verb)
- She is my subordinate in the organizational chart. (Noun)
- Subordinating conjunction (noun): A conjunction that introduces a dependent clause (e.g., ).
- "Although" is a subordinating conjunction.
Synonyms
- Inferiority: The state of being lower in rank, status, or quality.
- Submission: The action of accepting or yielding to a superior force or authority.
- Dependency: The state of relying on or being controlled by someone or something else.
Antonyms
- Domination: Exercise of control or influence over someone or something.
- Superordination: The state of being of higher rank or class.
- Independence: Freedom from control or influence.
Related Phrases and Concepts
- Subordination agreement: A legal or financial agreement that establishes one debt as ranking below another.
- Principle of subordination: A design or management principle where less important elements are made visually or structurally secondary.
Noun
- the act of mastering or subordinating someone
- the quality of obedient submissiveness
- the grammatical relation of a modifying word or phrase to its head
- the semantic relation of being subordinate or belonging to a lower rank or class
- the state of being subordinate to something