subordination.

1. Placement in a lower or dependent position relative to another in rank, authority or importance.

2. The grammatical dependence of one clause on another rather than equal coordination.

3. A lower payment rank of a debt or claim relative to another.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• institutional subordination
• subordination to a rule

On the page

Institutional subordination limited which decisions the local office could make independently.

Subordination to the rule did not remove the need to interpret its conditions.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: criterion analysis, relative importance, potential and actual distinction, evidence interpretation. Disciplines: academic writing, institutional analysis, research and conceptual explanation. Commonness: moderately common.