Subordinator

Quick meaning: Subordinator is a noun meaning (grammar) Any of a lexical class of words that join clauses at a subordinate syntactic level (subordinate clauses).

Meaning

(grammar) Any of a lexical class of words that join clauses at a subordinate syntactic level (subordinate clauses).

More Meanings

1. One who subordinates, or reduces the status of, another person.

Example Sentences

Near-synonym: subordinating conjunction

[…] the possibility of women's collusion with their subordinators, e.g. of their acceptance of subordinate status […]

Subordinators / English has a tiny set of essentially meaningless words that mark the beginnings of certain subordinate clauses (that is, clauses contained inside larger clauses). I’ll call these words subordinators (some linguists call them “complementizers,” and traditional grammars call them “subordinating conjunctions” and wrongly throw a whole bunch of prepositions in with them). I’ll discuss just three items that definitely have to be called subordinators.

Word Forms

• subordinators

Synonyms for subordinator

Depending on context, synonyms include complementizer, subordinative.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include subordinative, subordinating, adverbial, coordinator, complementizer, subconjunction.

Related Dictionary Tools