subjugate

First attested in 1447; from Middle English subjugaten (“to conquer, subjugate”), from subjugat(e) (“subjugated, made submissive, obedient”, also used as the past participle of subjugaten) +‎ -en (verb-forming suffix), from Latin subiugātus, perfect passive participle of subiugō (“to bring under the yoke, subjugate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from sub- (“under”) + iugō (“yoke”), from iugum +‎ -ō. See yoke.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌb.d͡ʒʊˌɡeɪt/, /ˈsʌb.d͡ʒəˌɡeɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌb.d͡ʒəˌɡeɪt/

  • Audio (US):

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  • Rhymes: -eɪt
• Hyphenation: sub‧ju‧gate

subjugate (third-person singular simple present subjugates, present participle subjugating, simple past and past participle subjugated)

1. (transitive) To forcibly impose obedience or servitude upon.

   Synonyms: underyoke, enthrall

   • 1782, William Cowper, “Hope”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 151:

     From infancy through childhood's giddy maze, / Frovvard at ſchool, and fretful in his plays, / The puny tyrant burns to ſubjugate / The free republic of the vvhip-gig ſtate.

• subjugation

First attested in 1429; from Middle English subjugat(e) (“subjugated, obedient, made submissive”, also used as the past participle of subjugaten), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Participial usage up until Early Modern English.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌb.d͡ʒʊ.ɡɪt/, /ˈsʌb.d͡ʒə.ɡɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌb.d͡ʒə.ɡɪt/
• Hyphenation: sub‧ju‧gate

subjugate (not comparable)

1. In a subjugated position.
   • 2010, James M. Volo, A History of War Resistance in America, page 17:

     Each nationalist struggle assumed the complexion of a Communist versus non-Communist conflict rather than one between a colonial imperium and a subjugate indigenous population intent on their independence.

2. (obsolete, as a participle) subjugated

• “subjugate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “subjugate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

subjugāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of subjugō