Meaning & Definition of Subject in English

1. The subject matter of a conversation or discussion

• "He didn't want to discuss that subject"

• "It was a very sensitive topic"

• "His letters were always on the theme of love"

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

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

3. A branch of knowledge

• "In what discipline is his doctorate?"

• "Teachers should be well trained in their subject"

• "Anthropology is the study of human beings"

4. Some situation or event that is thought about

• "He kept drifting off the topic"

• "He had been thinking about the subject for several years"

• "It is a matter for the police"

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

• "The subjects for this investigation were selected randomly"

• "The cases that we studied were drawn from two different communities"

7. A person who owes allegiance to that nation

• "A monarch has a duty to his subjects"

8. (logic) the first term of a proposition

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

• "He subjected me to his awful poetry"

• "The sergeant subjected the new recruits to many drills"

• "People in chernobyl were subjected to radiation"

2. Make accountable for

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

3. Make subservient

• Force to submit or subdue

4. Refer for judgment or consideration

• "The lawyers submitted the material to the court"

1. Possibly accepting or permitting

• "A passage capable of misinterpretation"

• "Open to interpretation"

• "An issue open to question"

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

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

• "Subject peoples"

• "A dependent prince"

3. Likely to be affected by something

• "The bond is subject to taxation"

• "He is subject to fits of depression"