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subject

Pronunciation: /ˈsʌb.d͡ʒɛkt/

The English word “subject” has 17 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Likely to be affected by or to experience something; liable.
  2. Conditional upon something; used with to.
  3. Placed or situated under; lying below, or in a lower situation.
  4. Placed under the power of another; owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state.

noun

  1. The noun, pronoun or noun phrase about whom the statement is made. In active clauses with verbs denoting an action, the subject is the actor. In clauses in the passive voice the subject is the target of the action.
  2. By extension: an actor or agent; one who takes action.
  3. The main topic of a paper, work of art, discussion, field of study, etc.
  4. A particular area of study.
  5. A citizen in a monarchy.
  6. A person ruled over by another, especially a monarch or state authority.
  7. The main theme or melody, especially in a fugue.
  8. A human, animal, or an inanimate object that is being examined, treated, analysed, etc; especially, one being studied in a scientific experiment, such as a clinical trial.
  9. A being that has subjective experiences, subjective consciousness, or a relationship with another entity.
  10. That of which something is stated.
  11. A variable isolated on one side of an equality, expressed in terms of other variables.

verb

  1. To cause (someone or something) to undergo a particular experience, especially one that is unpleasant or unwanted.
  2. To make subordinate or subservient; to subdue or enslave; to subjugate.

Etymology

From Middle English subget, from Old French suget, from Latin subiectus (“lying under or near, adjacent, also subject, exposed”), as a noun, subiectus (“a subject, an inferior”), subiectum (“the subject of a proposition”), past participle of subiciō (“throw, lay, place”), from sub (“under, at the foot of”) + iaciō (“throw, hurl”), as a calque of Ancient Greek ὑποκείμενον (hupokeímenon).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.