subject
Rulers often subject subject peoples to unfair laws.
The sentence describes how rulers impose unfair laws on people who are under their authority.
Meanings
to bring under control, dominion, or authority; to subjugate
- The empire subjected conquered peoples to harsh tribute.
- He subjected the theory to rigorous testing.
as adjective: under the rule or authority of someone. As noun: a person under the dominion of a sovereign; or, a topic of discussion
- British subjects swore loyalty to the crown.
- Mathematics is her favorite subject.
Word origin
From Latin subiectus, past participle of subicere ('to throw under, place under'), formed from sub- ('under') + iacere ('to throw'). The same Latin iacere produces 'project', 'inject', 'reject', 'eject', 'object', and 'abject'. The verb-adjective stress alternation follows the trochaic noun rule.
Fun fact
The same Latin root iacere ('to throw') produces a whole family of '-ject' words (project, inject, reject, eject, object, abject, subject, conject(ure)). Each prefix adds a direction: pro- (forward), in- (into), re- (back), e- (out), ob- (against), ab- (away), sub- (under). Latin grammarians built whole vocabularies out of this single throwing verb.