submissive

C2+ Topic:Law & Government

US /səbˈmɪsɪv/ UK /səbˈmɪsɪv/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
inclined to yield to the authority or will of others

The dog lowered its head in a submissive posture.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · inclined to yield to the... compliant obedient docile yielding deferential meek subservient

Opposites

domineering assertive defiant rebellious dominant

Word family

Forms submissivelysubmissiveness

Derived forms submissivelysubmissiveness

Related forms submit submission mission

Etymology

From Latin submissus ('lowered, humble'), past participle of submittere ('to lower, yield'), from sub- ('under') + mittere ('to send'), plus the English suffix -ive.

sub Latin mittere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Law & Government Word Formation & Derivatives

# submissive

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** səbˈmɪsɪv
**IPA (UK):** səbˈmɪsɪv

## Meanings
1. inclined to yield to the authority or will of others

## Examples
- The dog lowered its head in a submissive posture.

## Synonyms
- compliant
- obedient
- docile
- yielding
- deferential
- meek
- subservient

## Antonyms
- domineering
- assertive
- defiant
- rebellious
- dominant

## Derived Forms
- submissively
- submissiveness

## Related Forms
- submit
- submission
- mission

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sub
- Root: mittere

## Etymology
From Latin submissus ('lowered, humble'), past participle of submittere ('to lower, yield'), from sub- ('under') + mittere ('to send'), plus the English suffix -ive.

## AI Etymology
Submissive comes from Latin submissus ('lowered, humble'), past participle of submittere ('to lower, yield'), from sub- ('under') + mittere ('to send'), plus the English suffix -ive. The historical chain includes Latin sub and Latin mittere. The quoted older senses, "lowered, humble", "to lower, yield", "under", and "to send", supply the semantic anchors for submissive. The formation is best read as suffixal, compound, participial, and borrowed: the word submissive carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "inclined to yield to the authority or will of others". English derivatives include submissively and submissiveness; related English forms include submit, submission, and mission. The result is a adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Law & Government
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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