submissive
When animals live in packs, one animal is usually the dominant leader, while the others fall into more submissive roles. To be submissive is to obey or yield to someone else.
When you are submissive, you submit to someone else's will, which literally, you put your own desires lower than theirs. You can see this in the Latin root of submit, submittere, which is formed by sub- "under" + mittere "send, put."
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inclined or willing to submit to orders or wishes of others or showing such inclination“submissive servants”“a submissive reply”“replacing troublemakers with more submissive people”
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Synonyms:
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unassertive
inclined to timidity or lack of self-confidence
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abject
showing humiliation or submissiveness
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bowed, bowing
showing an excessively deferential manner
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meek, spiritless
evidencing little spirit or courage; overly submissive or compliant
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cringing, groveling, grovelling, wormlike, wormy
totally submissive
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dominated, henpecked
harassed by persistent nagging
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obedient
dutifully complying with the commands or instructions of those in authority
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humble
marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful
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subordinate
subject or submissive to authority or the control of another
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Antonyms:
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domineering
tending to domineer
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authoritarian, dictatorial, overbearing
expecting unquestioning obedience
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autocratic, bossy, dominating, high-and-mighty, magisterial, peremptory
offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power
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blustery, bullying
noisily domineering; tending to browbeat others
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cavalier, high-handed
given to haughty disregard of others
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heavy-handed, roughshod
unjustly domineering
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oppressive, tyrannical, tyrannous
marked by unjust severity or arbitrary behavior
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immodest
having or showing an exaggerated opinion of your importance, ability, etc
- show more antonyms...
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unassertive
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abjectly submissive; characteristic of a slave or servant“she has become submissive and subservient”
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synonyms:
slavish, subservient
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servile
submissive or fawning in attitude or behavior
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servile
/səbˈmɪsɪv/
/səbˈmɪsɪv/
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Copy citationVocabulary lists containing submissive
After wizard Ged Sparrowhawk arrives at the Tombs of Atuan to steal an ancient treasure, he meets Tenar, a young girl who guards the Tombs and knows nothing of the outside world.
After the death of her mother, seventeen-year-old Rue is forced to leave her younger sister and go with her estranged father to Ghizon, a hidden island full of magical beings. There, Rue learns the truth of her ancestry and why she must go back to save her sister before it's too late.
A dog named Bob enlists his friends, a gorilla named Ivan and an elephant named Ruby, to help him find his long-lost sister.
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