1. (

• subject ,
• topic ,
• theme

) the subject matter of a conversation or discussion; "he didn't want to discuss that subject"; "it was a very sensitive topic"; "his letters were always on the theme of love" ;

2. (

• subject ,
• content ,
• depicted_object

) something (a person or object or scene) selected by an artist or photographer for graphic representation; "a moving picture of a train is more dramatic than a still picture of the same subject" ;

3. (

• discipline ,
• subject ,
• subject_area ,
• subject_field ,
• field ,
• field_of_study ,
• study ,
• bailiwick

) a branch of knowledge; "in what discipline is his doctorate?"; "teachers should be well trained in their subject"; "anthropology is the study of human beings" ;

4. (

• topic ,
• subject ,
• issue ,
• matter

) some situation or event that is thought about; "he kept drifting off the topic"; "he had been thinking about the subject for several years"; "it is a matter for the police" ;

5. (

• subject ,

) (grammar) one of the two main constituents of a sentence; the grammatical constituent about which something is predicated ;

6. (

• subject ,
• case ,
• guinea_pig

) a person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures; someone who is an object of investigation; "the subjects for this investigation were selected randomly"; "the cases that we studied were drawn from two different communities" ;

7. (

• national ,
• subject

) a person who owes allegiance to that nation; "a monarch has a duty to his subjects" ;

8. (

• subject ,

) (logic) the first term of a proposition ;

1. (

• subject ,

) cause to experience or suffer or make liable or vulnerable to; "He subjected me to his awful poetry"; "The sergeant subjected the new recruits to many drills"; "People in Chernobyl were subjected to radiation" ;

2. (

• subject

) make accountable for; "He did not want to subject himself to the judgments of his superiors" ;

3. (

• subjugate ,
• subject

) make subservient; force to submit or subdue ;

1. (

• capable ,
• open ,
• subject

) possibly accepting or permitting; "a passage capable of misinterpretation"; "open to interpretation"; "an issue open to question"; "the time is fixed by the director and players and therefore subject to much variation" ;

2. (

• subject ,
• dependent

) being under the power or sovereignty of another or others; "subject peoples"; "a dependent prince" ;

3. (

• subject

) likely to be affected by something; "the bond is subject to taxation"; "he is subject to fits of depression" ;