subdue

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /səbˈdu/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /səbˈdjuː/, /səbˈdʒuː/, /sʌb-/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

subdue (third-person singular simple present subdues, present participle subduing, simple past and past participle subdued)

1. (transitive) To overcome, quieten, or bring under control.

   Synonyms: restrain, stifle, underbring; see also Thesaurus:curb

   • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:

     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, […]

   • 2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC‎:

     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.

   • 2025 June 14, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, “James Blake's fight against ‘free music’”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 12:

     “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.

   Synonyms: conquer, underbring

   • 2025 January 14, Howard LaFranchi, “In Biden-Trump handoff, a foreign policy shift for a changed world?”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

     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.

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dewk- (0 c, 74 e)

Translations

to overcome, quieten, bring under control

Arabic: طَوَّعَ (ṭawwaʕa), تَغَلَّبَ عَلَى (taḡallaba ʕalā) Aromanian: ncljin Azerbaijani: tabe etmək Bulgarian: подчинявам (bg) impf (podčinjavam), подчиня pf (podčinja) Catalan: asservir (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 征服 (zh) (zhēngfú), 制伏 (zh) (zhìfú) Czech: podmanit si pf, podrobit si pf, přemoci pf Danish: kue, underkue, undertrykke Dutch: onder controle brengen Esperanto: obeigi, kvietigi (eo) Finnish: nujertaa (fi), kukistaa (fi) French: soumettre (fr), subjuguer (fr) German: unter Kontrolle bringen, unterwerfen (de) Greek: Ancient: καταπονέω (kataponéō), χειρόομαι (kheiróomai) Ido: submisar (io), domtar (io) Irish: ceansaigh, traoch Italian: sottomettere (it), soggiogare (it) Japanese: 平げる (たいらげる, tairageru), 征服する (ja) (せいふくする, seifuku suru) Latin: subdō, pācō (la) Maori: whakangohengohe Occitan: subjugar, sometre (oc) Portuguese: subjugar (pt) Romanian: supune (ro), cuceri (ro), subjuga (ro), închina (ro) Russian: подчиня́ть (ru) impf (podčinjátʹ), подчини́ть (ru) pf (podčinítʹ) Sanskrit: उब्जति (ubjati) Sicilian: divìnciri, suttamèttiri Spanish: someter (es), doblegar (es), domeñar (es), debelar (es) Swedish: kuva (sv) Thai: ปราบ (th) (bpràap) Turkish: hizaya getirmek (tr) Vietnamese: kềm nén

to bring (a country) under control by force

Bulgarian: покорявам (bg) (pokorjavam) Chinese: Mandarin: 征服 (zh) (zhēngfú) Czech: podmanit si pf, podrobit si pf, přemoci pf Danish: kue, underkue, underkue Dutch: onderwerpen (nl) Esperanto: obeigi Finnish: vallata (fi) French: assujettir (fr) German: unterwerfen (de) Hungarian: leigáz (hu) Ido: submisar (io) Italian: sottomettere (it) Japanese: 平げる (たいらげる, tairageru), 征服する (ja) (せいふくする, seifuku suru) Maori: pēhipēhi Occitan: sometre (oc), subjugar Portuguese: submeter (pt) Russian: завоёвывать (ru) impf (zavojóvyvatʹ), завоева́ть (ru) pf (zavojevátʹ) Spanish: someter (es), sojuzgar (es)