SUBJECT

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does subject mean? 

• SUBJECT (noun)
  The noun SUBJECT has 8 senses:

1. the subject matter of a conversation or discussion

2. something (a person or object or scene) selected by an artist or photographer for graphic representation

3. a branch of knowledge

4. some situation or event that is thought about

5. (grammar) one of the two main constituents of a sentence; the grammatical constituent about which something is predicated

6. a person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures; someone who is an object of investigation

7. a person who owes allegiance to that nation

8. (logic) the first term of a proposition

  Familiarity information: SUBJECT used as a noun is common.

• SUBJECT (adjective)
  The adjective SUBJECT has 3 senses:

1. possibly accepting or permitting

2. being under the power or sovereignty of another or others

3. likely to be affected by something

  Familiarity information: SUBJECT used as an adjective is uncommon.

• SUBJECT (verb)
  The verb SUBJECT has 3 senses:

1. cause to experience or suffer or make liable or vulnerable to

2. make accountable for

3. make subservient; force to submit or subdue

  Familiarity information: SUBJECT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUBJECT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The subject matter of a conversation or discussion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

subject; theme; topic

Context example:

his letters were always on the theme of love

Hypernyms ("subject" is a kind of...):

content; message; subject matter; substance (what a communication that is about something is about)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "subject"):

keynote (the principal theme in a speech or literary work)

head; question (the subject matter at issue)

precedent (a subject mentioned earlier (preceding in time))

bone of contention (the subject of a dispute)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something (a person or object or scene) selected by an artist or photographer for graphic representation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

content; depicted object; subject

Context example:

a moving picture of a train is more dramatic than a still picture of the same subject

Hypernyms ("subject" is a kind of...):

thing (a separate and self-contained entity)

Holonyms ("subject" is a part of...):

scene; view (graphic art consisting of the graphic or photographic representation of a visual percept)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A branch of knowledge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

bailiwick; discipline; field; field of study; study; subject; subject area; subject field

Context example:

anthropology is the study of human beings

Hypernyms ("subject" is a kind of...):

domain; knowledge base; knowledge domain (the content of a particular field of knowledge)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "subject"):

graphology (the study of handwriting (especially as an indicator of the writer's character or disposition))

theogony (the study of the origins and genealogy of the gods)

protology (the study of origins and first things)

numerology (the study of the supposed occult influence of numbers on human affairs)

escapology (the study of methods of escaping (especially as a form of entertainment))

military science (the discipline dealing with the principles of warfare)

divinity; theology (the rational and systematic study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truth)

arts; humanistic discipline; humanities; liberal arts (studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills))

futuristics; futurology (the study or prediction of future developments on the basis of existing conditions)

applied science; engineering; engineering science; technology (the discipline dealing with the art or science of applying scientific knowledge to practical problems)

architecture (the discipline dealing with the principles of design and construction and ornamentation of fine buildings)

science; scientific discipline (a particular branch of scientific knowledge)

ology (an informal word (abstracted from words with this ending) for some unidentified branch of knowledge)

bibliotics (the scientific study of documents and handwriting etc. especially to determine authorship or authenticity)

allometry (the study of the relative growth of a part of an organism in relation to the growth of the whole)

genealogy (the study or investigation of ancestry and family history)

frontier (an undeveloped field of study; a topic inviting research and development)

major (the principal field of study of a student at a university)

communication theory; communications (the discipline that studies the principles of transmiting information and the methods by which it is delivered (as print or radio or television etc.))

occultism (the study of the supernatural)

landscape architecture (the art, planning, design, management, preservation and rehabilitation of the land and the design of large man-made constructs)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Some situation or event that is thought about

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

issue; matter; subject; topic

Context example:

it is a matter for the police

Hypernyms ("subject" is a kind of...):

cognitive content; content; mental object (the sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "subject"):

area (a subject of study)

blind spot (a subject about which you are ignorant or prejudiced and fail to exercise good judgment)

remit (the topic that a person, committee, or piece of research is expected to deal with or has authority to deal with)

res adjudicata; res judicata (a matter already settled in court; cannot be raised again)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(grammar) one of the two main constituents of a sentence; the grammatical constituent about which something is predicated

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("subject" is a kind of...):

constituent; grammatical constituent ((grammar) a word or phrase or clause forming part of a larger grammatical construction)

Domain category:

grammar (the branch of linguistics that deals with syntax and morphology (and sometimes also deals with semantics))

Sense 6

Meaning:

A person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures; someone who is an object of investigation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

case; guinea pig; subject

Context example:

the cases that we studied were drawn from two different communities

Hypernyms ("subject" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Derivation:

subject (likely to be affected by something)

Sense 7

Meaning:

A person who owes allegiance to that nation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

national; subject

Context example:

a monarch has a duty to his subjects

Hypernyms ("subject" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "subject"):

citizen (a native or naturalized member of a state or other political community)

compatriot (a person from your own country)

nationalist; patriot (one who loves and defends his or her country)

Holonyms ("subject" is a member of...):

country; land; nation (the people who live in a nation or country)

Derivation:

subject (make subservient; force to submit or subdue)

subject (being under the power or sovereignty of another or others)

Sense 8

Meaning:

(logic) the first term of a proposition

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("subject" is a kind of...):

term (one of the substantive phrases in a logical proposition)

Domain category:

logic (the branch of philosophy that analyzes inference)

• SUBJECT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Possibly accepting or permitting

Synonyms:

capable; open; subject

Context example:

the time is fixed by the director and players and therefore subject to much variation

Similar:

susceptible ((often followed by 'of' or 'to') yielding readily to or capable of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Being under the power or sovereignty of another or others

Synonyms:

dependent; subject

Context example:

a dependent prince

Similar:

subordinate (subject or submissive to authority or the control of another)

Derivation:

subject (a person who owes allegiance to that nation)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Likely to be affected by something

Context example:

he is subject to fits of depression

Similar:

affected (acted upon; influenced)

Derivation:

subject (a person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures; someone who is an object of investigation)

• SUBJECT (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to experience or suffer or make liable or vulnerable to

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

People in Chernobyl were subjected to radiation

Hypernyms (to "subject" is one way to...):

affect; bear on; bear upon; impact; touch; touch on (have an effect upon)

Cause:

experience; go through; see (undergo or live through a difficult experience)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "subject"):

bacterise; bacterize (subject to the action of bacteria)

vitriol (expose to the effects of vitriol or injure with vitriol)

put (cause (someone) to undergo something)

shipwreck (cause to experience shipwreck)

refract (subject to refraction)

expose (expose or make accessible to some action or influence)

expose (expose to light, of photographic film)

incur (make oneself subject to; bring upon oneself; become liable to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make accountable for

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Context example:

He did not want to subject himself to the judgments of his superiors

Hypernyms (to "subject" is one way to...):

submit (yield to the control of another)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make subservient; force to submit or subdue

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

subject; subjugate

Hypernyms (to "subject" is one way to...):

dominate; master (have dominance or the power to defeat over)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "subject"):

dragoon (subjugate by imposing troops)

enslave (make a slave of; bring into servitude)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

subject (a person who owes allegiance to that nation)

subjection (the act of conquering)

subjection (forced submission to control by others)

 Context examples 

I plunged instantly into my subject.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She talks of you continually: there is no subject she enjoys so much or touches upon so often.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"What shall you do all your vacation?" asked Amy, changing the subject with tact.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Nothing, however, was concluded on the subject yet.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The subject of improving grounds, meanwhile, was still under consideration among the others; and Mrs. Grant could not help addressing her brother, though it was calling his attention from Miss Julia Bertram.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Emma thought with pleasure of some change of subject.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Their drive, even when this subject was over, was not likely to be very agreeable.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

His choice of subjects, his expressions, and still more his manner and look, had been such as she could see in only one light.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

After supper I smoked, as on the last evening, and the Count stayed with me, chatting and asking questions on every conceivable subject, hour after hour.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

An indicator as to whether the female subject is in menopause.

(Menopause Status, NCI Thesaurus)