different between subject vs accidence

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English subget, from Old French suget, from Latin subiectus (“lying under or near, adjacent, also subject, exposed”), as a noun, subiectus (“a subject, an inferior”), subiectum (“the subject of a proposition”), past participle of subici? (“throw, lay, place”), from sub (“under, at the foot of”) + iaci? (“throw, hurl”), as a calque of Ancient Greek ??????????? (hupokeímenon).

Pronunciation

• enPR: s?b?j?kt, IPA^(key): /?s?b.d??kt/
• (also) (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s?b.d??kt/
• Hyphenation: sub?ject

Adjective

subject (comparative more subject, superlative most subject)

1. Likely to be affected by or to experience something.
   • c. 1678 (written), 1682 (published), John Dryden, Mac Flecknoe

     All human things are subject to decay.

2. Conditional upon something; used with to.

3. Placed or situated under; lying below, or in a lower situation.
4. Placed under the power of another; owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state.
   • , Book I

     Esau was never subject to Jacob.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Latin subiectus (“a subject, an inferior”), subiectum (“the subject of a proposition”), past participle of subici? (“throw, lay, place”), from sub (“under, at the foot of”) + iaci? (“throw, hurl”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: s?b?j?kt, IPA^(key): /?s?b.d??kt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s?b.d??kt/
• Hyphenation: sub?ject

Noun

subject (plural subjects)

2. (grammar) In a clause: the word or word group (usually a noun phrase) about whom the statement is made. In active clauses with verbs denoting an action, the subject and the actor are usually the same.

3. An actor; one who takes action.

   The subjects and objects of power.

4. The main topic of a paper, work of art, discussion, field of study, etc.
   • 1695, John Dryden (translator), Observations on the Art of Painting by Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy

     Make choice of a subject beautifull and noble, which […] shall […] afford […] an ample field of matter wherein to expatiate itself.
5. A particular area of study.
6. A citizen in a monarchy.

7. A person ruled over by another, especially a monarch or state authority.
8. (music) The main theme or melody, especially in a fugue.
   • 1878, William Smith Rockstro, "Subject" in A Dictionary of Music and Musicians

     The earliest known form of subject is the ecclesiastical cantus firmus, or plain song.

9. A human, animal or an inanimate object that is being examined, treated, analysed, etc.
   • 1748, Conyers Middleton, Life of Cicero

     Writers of particular lives […] are apt to be prejudiced in favour of their subject.
10. (philosophy) A being that has subjective experiences, subjective consciousness, or a relationship with another entity.
11. (logic) That of which something is stated.
12. (mathematics) The variable in terms of which an expression is defined.

Synonyms

• (discussion): matter, topic

Derived terms

• between-subjects
• subject matter
• subject title
• subjective
• within-subjects

Translations

See also

• object
• predicate

Etymology 3

From Medieval Latin subiect?, iterative of subici? (“throw, lay, place”), from sub (“under, at the foot of”) + iaci? (“throw, hurl”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: s?b-j?kt?, IPA^(key): /s?b?d??kt/, /s?b?d??kt/
• Rhymes: -?kt

Verb

subject (third-person singular simple present subjects, present participle subjecting, simple past and past participle subjected)

1. (transitive, construed with to) To cause (someone or something) to undergo a particular experience, especially one that is unpleasant or unwanted.

   I came here to buy souvenirs, not to be subjected to a tirade of abuse!

2. (transitive) To make subordinate or subservient; to subdue or enslave.

Synonyms

• underbring

Translations

Further reading

• subject in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• subject in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• subject at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

• First attested in the late 14th century.
• (grammar): First attested in the mid 15th century.
• From Latin accidentia (“accidental matters”), from accidens, present participle of accidere (“to happen”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æk.s?.d?ns/, /?æk.s?.d?ns/, /?æk.s?.d?nts/, /?æk.s?.d?nts/

Noun

accidence (countable and uncountable, plural accidences)

1. (grammar) The accidents or inflections of words; the rudiments of grammar.
   • 1627, John Brinsley, Ludus Literarius; or, The Grammar Schoole, London: John Bellamie, p. xiii,^[1]

     To teach Schollars how to bee able to reade well, and write true Orthography, in a short space. 2. To make them ready in all points of Accedence and Grammar, to answere any necessary question therein.

   • 1669, John Milton, Accedence Commenc’t Grammar (title of a Latin grammar)^[2]
   • 1871, Review of An Elementary Greek Grammar by William W. Goodwin, North American Review, Volume 112, No. 231, 1 April, 1871, p. 427,^[3]

     Our best schools send every year to college boys who know their accidence reasonably, and in some cases admirably well […]
2. The rudiments of any subject.
   • 1904, Edwin Sidney Hartland, Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance and Folklore, London: David Nutt, p. 67,^[4]

     When Franklin, playing with his kite in a thunderstorm, brought down sparks from the heavens, he was learning the accidence of that science of Electricity which has given us the Telegraph and Telephone […]

3. A book containing the first principles of grammar; (by extension) a book containing the rudiments of any subject or art.
   • 1562, Gerard Legh, The Accedence of Armorie, 1597 edition, Preface,^[5]

     And forsomuch as this treateth of blazon of Armes, and of the worthie bearers of them […] I therefore, have named this, the Accedence of Armorie […]

   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV, Scene 1,^[6]

     Sir Hugh, my husband says my son profits nothing in the world at his book. I pray you, ask him some questions in his accidence.

   • 1759, The Annual Register, p. 295,^[7]

     Two years afterwards he got part of an accidence and grammar, and about three fourths of Littleton’s dictionary. He conceived a violent passion for reading […]

   • 1895, Maud Wilder Goodwin, The Colonial Cavalier; or, Southern Life Before the Revolution, Boston: Little Brown & Co., pp. 230-231,^[8]

     Hugh Jones, a Fellow of William and Mary College, writes of his countrymen that, for the most part, they are only desirous of learning what is absolutely necessary, in the shortest way. To meet this peculiarity Mr. Jones states that he has designed a royal road to learning, consisting of a series of text-books embracing an Accidence to Christianity, an Accidence to the Mathematicks, and an Accidence to the English Tongue.

Related terms

• accident