different between lackey vs subordinate

English

Alternative forms

• lacquey, lacky

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French laquais, which is probably (via Old Occitan lacai?) from Spanish lacayo, itself perhaps from Italian lacchè and Greek ????? (lakés), from Turkish ulak. Another possibility is through French, from Catalan alacay, from Arabic ??????????? (al-q???, “magistrate”). See French laquais.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?læ.ki/
• Rhymes: -æki

Noun

lackey (plural lackeys)

1. A footman, a liveried male servant.
   • 1820, Charles Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer, volume 1, page 198:

     My dearest father,—I say nothing of them,—but I dare to speak of myself,—I can never be a monk,—if that is your object—spurn me,—order your lacqueys to drag me from this carriage,—leave me a beggar in the streets to cry “fire and water,”—but do not make me a monk.
2. A fawning, servile follower.

   Synonyms: lickspittle; see also Thesaurus:loyal follower

Derived terms

• lackey caterpillar
• lackey moth

Translations

Verb

lackey (third-person singular simple present lackeys, present participle lackeying, simple past and past participle lackeyed)

1. (transitive) To attend, wait upon, serve obsequiously.
   • ca. 1607, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act I, sc. 3:

     [T]he ebbed man, ne'er loved till ne'er worth love,

     Comes deared by being lacked. This common body,

     Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,

     Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide,

     To rot itself with motion.

   • 1634, John Milton. Comus:

     So dear to Heav'n is Saintly chastity,

     That when a soul is found sincerely so,

     A thousand liveried Angels lacky her ...

2. (intransitive, obsolete) To toady, play the flunky.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “lackey”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• Ackley

English

Etymology

From Middle English subordinat, from Medieval Latin sub?rdin?tus, past participle of sub?rdin?re, from sub- + ?rdin?re (“to order”).

Pronunciation

Adjective and Noun

• (UK) enPR: s?-bô?d?n-?t, IPA^(key): /s??b??d?n?t/
• (US) enPR: s?-bôr?d?n-?t, IPA^(key): /s??b??d?n?t/

Verb

• (UK) enPR: s?-bô?d?n-?t, IPA^(key): /s??b??d?ne?t/
• (US) enPR: s?-bôr?d?n-?t, IPA^(key): /s??b??d?ne?t/

Adjective

subordinate (comparative more subordinate, superlative most subordinate)

1. Placed in a lower class, rank, or position.
   • 1695, John Woodward, An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies, especially Minerals, &c

     The several kinds […] and subordinate species of each are easily known.

   Synonym: lesser

   Antonyms: superior, superordinate

2. Submissive or inferior to, or controlled by authority.
   • November 9, 1662, Robert South, Of the Creation of Man in the Image of God

     It was subordinate, not enslaved, to the understanding.

   Antonym: insubordinate

3. (grammar, of a clause, not comparable) dependent on and either modifying or complementing the main clause

   Synonym: dependent

   Antonyms: independent, main

4. Descending in a regular series.

Translations

Noun

subordinate (plural subordinates)

2. (countable) One who is subordinate.

   Synonyms: inferior, junior, report, underling, understrapper

   Antonyms: boss, commander, leader, manager, superior, supervisor

Translations

Verb

subordinate (third-person singular simple present subordinates, present participle subordinating, simple past and past participle subordinated)

1. (transitive) To make subservient.
2. (transitive) To treat as of less value or importance.

   Synonyms: belittle, denigrate

3. (transitive, finance) To make of lower priority in order of payment in bankruptcy.

Translations

See also

• inferior

Anagrams

• turbinadoes

Italian

Adjective

subordinate

1. feminine plural of subordinato

Verb

subordinate

1. second-person plural present indicative of subordinare
2. second-person plural imperative of subordinare
3. feminine plural past participle of subordinare

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /su.bo?r.di?na?.te/, [s??bo?rd???nä?t??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /su.bor.di?na.te/, [sub?rd?i?n??t??]

Verb

sub?rdin?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of sub?rdin?