Search the Dictionary

A subordinate or local assembly; a diet of inferior rank.

eing disconnected; separation; want of union. Nothing was therefore to be left in all the subordinate members but weakness, disconnection, and confusion. Burke.

attorney, the prosecuting officer of a district or district court. -- District court, a subordinate municipal, state, or United States tribunal, having jurisdiction in certain cases within a judicial district. -- District judge, one who presides over a district court. -- District school, a public school for the chi…

ising a variety in the nationality of, or the forms of administration in, constituent and subordinate portions; as, the Austrian empire. Empire carries with it the idea of a vast and complicated government. C. J. Smith.

nder human sight or observation. (c) To come within; to be ranged or reckoned with; to be subordinate to in the way of classification; as, these substances fall under a different class or order. -- To fall upon. (a) To attack. [See To fall on.] (b) To attempt; to have recourse to. "I do not intend to fall upon nice di…

Composed of states or districts which retain only a subordinate and limited sovereignty, as the Union of the United States, or the Sonderbund of Switzerland.

cotch fiddle, the itch. (Low) -- To play first, or second, fiddle, to take a leading or a subordinate part. [Colloq.]

A class of objects divided into several subordinate species; a class more extensive than a species; a precisely defined and exactly divided class; one of the five predicable conceptions, or sorts of terms.

eps or degrees; graduated. Beginning with the genus, passing through all the graduate and subordinate stages. Tatham.

A body of officials disposed organically in ranks and orders each subordinate to the one above it; a body of ecclesiastical rulers.

The art, practice, or method of measuring time by hours and subordinate divisions. "The horometry of antiquity." Sir T. Browne.

ning to, another thing, called the principal. Incident proposition (Logic), a proposition subordinate to another, and introduced by who, which, whose, whom, etc.; as, Julius, whose surname was Cæsar, overcame Pompey. I. Watts.

thout regularity; coming without design; casual; accidental; hence, not of prime concern; subordinate; collateral; as, an incidental conversation; an incidental occurrence; incidental expenses. By some, religious duties . . . appear to be regarded . . . as an incidental business. Rogers.

Not accordant with duty or morality; not duly regulated or subordinated; unbecoming; improper; as, incorrect conduct. It shows a will most incorrect to heaven. Shak. The wit of the last age was yet more incorrect than their language. Dryden.

Not dependent; free; not subject to control by others; not relying on others; not subordinate; as, few men are wholly independent. A dry, but independent crust. Cowper.

Lower in place, rank, excellence, etc.; less important or valuable; subordinate; underneath; beneath. A thousand inferior and particular propositions. I. Watts. The body, or, as some love to call it, our inferior nature. Burke. Whether they are equal or inferior to my other poems, an author is the most improper judge.…

The quality of being insubordinate; disobedience to lawful authority.

ng in opposition to civil or political authority, or against an established government; insubordinate; rebellious. "The insurgent provinces." Motley.

A mechanical contrivance, an auxiliary machine, or a subordinate part of a machine, rendering convenient service, and often supplying the place of a boy or attendant who was commonly called Jack; as:

A subordinate officer on an extensive estate, who acts as an assistant to the steward.