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subdue

[suhb-doo, -dyoo] / səbˈdu, -ˈdyu /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Seven years later, President Thomas Jefferson sent the fleet—three frigates and a schooner—to subdue pirates disrupting shipping along North Africa’s Barbary Coast.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

Assassination attempts can also warp how journalists cover a president’s opposition, and subdue how that opposition behaves.

From Slate • Apr. 26, 2026

The land wasn’t empty, and Native American tribes fought fiercely to defend it in alliance with the British, leading Washington to dispatch multiple punitive expeditions to subdue them and exert American control.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

According to the incident report, an unspecified number of people tried to subdue him and eventually let him go “in hope that he would leave.”

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 26, 2026

Dad tried to corral her, to subdue her with a show of anger, the way he always had, but this only made her more stubborn.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover




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