2 ADJ [usu ADJ n] You can use sublime to emphasize a quality that someone or something has, usually a quality that is undesirable or negative. [FORMAL or LITERARY , EMPHASIS ] □ The administration's sublime incompetence is probably temporary. □ He displayed a sublime indifference to the distinction between right and wrong. ● sub|lime|ly ADV [usu ADV adj] □ Mrs Trollope was sublimely uninterested in what she herself wore.
sub|limi|nal /sʌbl I m I n ə l/ ADJ [usu ADJ n] Subliminal influences or messages affect your mind without you being aware of it. □ Colour has a profound, though often subliminal influence on our senses and moods. □ …subliminal advertising.
su b-machi ne gun (sub-machine guns ) also sub-machine-gun , submachine gun N‑COUNT A sub-machine gun is a light portable type of machine gun.
sub|ma|rine /sʌ bməriː n, [AM ] -riːn/ (submarines )
1 N‑COUNT A submarine is a type of ship that can travel both above and below the surface of the sea. The abbreviation sub is also used. □ …a nuclear submarine.
2 ADJ [ADJ n] Submarine means existing below the surface of the sea. [FORMAL ] □ …submarine caves. □ …submarine plants.
3 N‑COUNT [usu N n] A submarine sandwich is a long soft bread roll filled with a combination of things such as meat, cheese, eggs, and salad. The abbreviation sub is also used. [AM ]
sub|ma|rin|er /sʌbmæ r I nə r , [AM ALSO ] sʌ bməriː nə r / (submariners ) N‑COUNT A submariner is a sailor or other person who goes in a submarine.
sub|merge /səbmɜː r dʒ/ (submerges , submerging , submerged )
1 VERB If something submerges or if you submerge it, it goes below the surface of some water or another liquid. □ [V ] Hippos are unable to submerge in the few remaining water holes. □ [V n] The river burst its banks, submerging an entire village.
2 VERB If you submerge yourself in an activity, you give all your attention to it and do not think about anything else. □ [V pron-refl + in ] He submerges himself in the world of his imagination.
sub|merged /səbmɜː r dʒd/ ADJ If something is submerged , it is below the surface of some water. □ My right toe struck against a submerged rock.
sub|mers|ible /səbmɜː r s I b ə l/ ADJ If something is submersible , it can go or operate under water. □ …a submersible pump.
sub|mis|sion /səbm I ʃ ə n/ (submissions )
1 N‑UNCOUNT [oft into N ] Submission is a state in which people can no longer do what they want to do because they have been brought under the control of someone else. □ The army intends to take the city or simply starve it into submission.
2 N‑UNCOUNT The submission of a proposal, report, or other document is the act of formally sending it to someone, so that they can consider it or decide about it. [FORMAL ] □ Diploma and certificate courses do not normally require the submission of a dissertation.
3 N‑COUNT A submission is a proposal, report, or other document that is formally sent or presented to someone, so that they can consider or decide about it. □ A written submission has to be prepared.
sub|mis|sive /səbm I s I v/ ADJ If you are submissive , you obey someone without arguing. □ Most doctors want their patients to be submissive. ● sub|mis|sive|ly ADV □ The troops submissively laid down their weapons.
sub|mit /səbm I t/ (submits , submitting , submitted )
1 VERB If you submit to something, you unwillingly allow something to be done to you, or you do what someone wants, for example because you are not powerful enough to resist. □ [V + to ] In desperation, Mrs. Jones submitted to an operation on her right knee to relieve the pain. □ [V + to ] If I submitted to their demands, they would not press the allegations. [Also V ]
2 VERB If you submit a proposal, report, or request to someone, you formally send it to them so that they can consider it or decide about it. □ [V n + to ] They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday. □ [V n] Head teachers yesterday submitted a claim for a 9 per cent pay rise.
sub|nor|mal /sʌ bnɔː r m ə l/ also sub-normal ADJ If someone is subnormal , they have less ability or intelligence than a normal person of their age. [OLD-FASHIONED ] □ …educationally subnormal children. ● N‑PLURAL The subnormal are people who are subnormal. □ She attended a school for the educationally subnormal.
sub|or|di|nate (subordinates , subordinating , subordinated ) The noun and adjective are pronounced /səbɔː r d I nət/. The verb is pronounced /səbɔː r d I ne I t/. 1 N‑COUNT [oft poss N ] If someone is your subordinate , they have a less important position than you in the organization that you both work for. □ Haig tended not to seek guidance from subordinates.
2 ADJ Someone who is subordinate to you has a less important position than you and has to obey you. □ Sixty of his subordinate officers followed his example. □ [+ to ] Women were regarded as subordinate to free men.
3 ADJ Something that is subordinate to something else is less important than the other thing. □ [+ to ] It was an art in which words were subordinate to images.
4 VERB If you subordinate something to another thing, you regard it or treat it as less important than the other thing. □ [V n + to ] He was both willing and able to subordinate all else to this aim. ● sub|or|di|na|tion /səbɔː r d I ne I ʃ ə n/ N‑UNCOUNT □ [+ of ] …the social subordination of women. [Also + to ]