submissive
adjective
Synonyms
Examples of submissive in a Sentence
Dr. Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
Largely confined to the palace, she’s tended by her submissive husband, Nicky (Guillaume Gallienne), and a crew of backbiting advisers who fearfully indulge her whims.
—Lili Loofbourow, Washington Post, 2 Mar. 2024
Alpha males use this to either push juvenile or submissive dogs from their territory.
—Jay Cassell, Field & Stream, 21 June 2023
But for around 50 years, researchers bred generation after generation of only the submissive foxes, and ended up with a creature that could appreciate a good snuggle.
—Matthew Every, Field & Stream, 7 Dec. 2023
Disconnected from reality, the eternal image of a kind mother and a submissive daughter-in-law, the woman is more like a beautiful prop.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 24 Oct. 2023
The character was the spiritual descendant of Madame Butterfly, a stereotypically submissive Asian woman who is tragically deserted by a domineering white man.
—Mayukh Sen, The New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2023
Surprisingly, there were higher levels of synchrony between mice who were further apart in social status—one dominant and one submissive—and lower levels between mice closer in rank.
—Lydia Denworth, Scientific American, 13 June 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'submissive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Submissive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/submissive. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
submissive
adjective
from Latin submissus, past participle of submittere "to let down," from sub- "under, below" and mittere "to send, throw" — related to message
Medical Definition
submissive
adjective
S. W. Twemlow et al.
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