subdue

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
9
Words With Friends
12
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/səbˈdu/
See all 4 pronunciations
/səbˈdu/ · /səbˈdjuː/ · /səbˈdʒuː/ · /sʌb-/

Definition of subdue

2 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

verb

  1. (transitive)To overcome, quieten, or bring under control.
    “And when their ſcattered armie is ſubdu’d: And you march on their ſlaughtered carkaſſes, Share equally the gold that bought their liues, And liue like Gentlmen in Perſea, […]”
    “Gary Cahill, a target for Arsenal and Tottenham before the transfer window closed, put England ahead early on and Rooney was on target twice before the interval as the early hostility of the Bulgarian supporters was swiftly subdued.”
    ““It's like the opposite of punk, isn't it?” he said jokingly in 2016 while discussing his influence on other musicians. “I've subdued a generation.” But [James] Blake is not so quiescent after all.”
See all 2 definitions

verb

  1. (transitive)To overcome, quieten, or bring under control.
    “And when their ſcattered armie is ſubdu’d: And you march on their ſlaughtered carkaſſes, Share equally the gold that bought their liues, And liue like Gentlmen in Perſea, […]”
    “Gary Cahill, a target for Arsenal and Tottenham before the transfer window closed, put England ahead early on and Rooney was on target twice before the interval as the early hostility of the Bulgarian supporters was swiftly subdued.”
    ““It's like the opposite of punk, isn't it?” he said jokingly in 2016 while discussing his influence on other musicians. “I've subdued a generation.” But [James] Blake is not so quiescent after all.”
  2. (transitive)To bring (a country) under control by force.
    “In the run-up to his return to the White House next Monday, Mr. Trump has rattled the world, and America’s neighborhood in particular, with a list of objectives – buying Greenland, seizing the Panama Canal, making Canada the 51st state – that treat friendly nations as weak interlocutors and impediments to be subdued.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English subdewen, subduen, sodewen, from Old French souduire, from Latin subdūcō (“to draw away”), perhaps influenced by subdō (“to subdue, subject”).

Hooks

3 extensions · 3 back

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