subdue

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, [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.

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.