Subject vs. Person — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Subject and Person
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Definitions
Subject
A person or thing that is being discussed, described, or dealt with
I've said all there is to be said on the subject
He's the subject of a major new biography
Person
A person (plural people or persons) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, or legal responsibility. The defining features of personhood and, consequently, what makes a person count as a person, differ widely among cultures and contexts.In addition to the question of personhood, of what makes a being count as a person to begin with, there are further questions about personal identity and self: both about what makes any particular person that particular person instead of another, and about what makes a person at one time the same person as they were or will be at another time despite any intervening changes.
Subject
A branch of knowledge studied or taught in a school, college, or university
Maths is not my best subject
Person
A living human. Often used in combination
Chairperson.
Salesperson. See Usage Note at chairman.
Subject
A member of a state other than its ruler, especially one owing allegiance to a monarch or other supreme ruler
The legislation is applicable only to British subjects
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Person
An individual of specified character
A person of importance.
Subject
A noun or noun phrase functioning as one of the main components of a clause, being the element about which the rest of the clause is predicated.
Person
The composite of characteristics that make up an individual personality; the self.
Subject
A thinking or feeling entity; the conscious mind; the ego, especially as opposed to anything external to the mind.
Person
The living body of a human
Searched the prisoner's person.
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Subject
Likely or prone to be affected by (a particular condition or occurrence, typically an unwelcome or unpleasant one)
He was subject to bouts of manic depression
Person
Physique and general appearance.
Subject
Dependent or conditional upon
The proposed merger is subject to the approval of the shareholders
Person
(Law) A human, corporation, organization, partnership, association, or other entity deemed or construed to be governed by a particular law.
Subject
Under the authority of
Ministers are subject to the laws of the land
Person
(Christianity) Any of the three separate individualities of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as distinguished from the essence of the Godhead that unites them.
Subject
Conditionally upon
Subject to the EC's agreement, we intend to set up an enterprise zone in the area
Person
Any of three groups of pronoun forms with corresponding verb inflections that distinguish the speaker (first person), the individual addressed (second person), and the individual or thing spoken of (third person).
Subject
Cause or force someone or something to undergo (a particular experience or form of treatment, typically an unwelcome or unpleasant one)
He'd subjected her to a terrifying ordeal
Person
Any of the different forms or inflections expressing these distinctions.
Subject
Bring (a person or country) under one's control or jurisdiction, typically by using force
The city had been subjected to Macedonian rule
Person
A character or role, as in a play; a guise
"Well, in her person, I say I will not have you" (Shakespeare).
Subject
Being in a position or in circumstances that place one under the power or authority of another or others
Subject to the law.
Person
An individual substance of a rational nature; usually a human being.
Each person is unique, both mentally and physically.
Subject
Prone; disposed
A child who is subject to colds.
Person
A character or part, as in a play; a specific kind or manifestation of individual character, whether in real life, or in literary or dramatic representation; an assumed character.
Subject
Likely to incur or receive; exposed
A directive subject to misinterpretation.
Person
(Christianity) Any one of the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.
Subject
Contingent or dependent
A vacation subject to changing weather.
Person
Any sentient or socially intelligent being.
Subject
One who is under the rule of another or others, especially one who owes allegiance to a government or ruler.
Person
(in a compound noun or noun phrase) Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing).
Jack's always been a dog person, but I prefer cats.
Subject
One concerning which something is said or done; a person or thing being discussed or dealt with
A subject of gossip.
Person
(in a compound noun or noun phrase) A human of unspecified gender (in terms usually constructed with man or woman).
Subject
Something that is treated or indicated in a work of art.
Person
(in a compound noun or noun phrase) A worker in a specified function or specialty.
I was able to speak to a technical support person and get the problem solved.
Subject
(Music) A theme of a composition, especially a fugue.
Person
The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc.
Subject
A course or area of study
Math is her best subject.
Person
(law) Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts.
At common law a corporation or a trust is legally a person.
Subject
A basis for action; a cause.
Person
The human genitalia; specifically, the penis.
Subject
One that experiences or is subjected to something
The subject of ridicule.
Person
(grammar) A linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to whom or about whom they are speaking. See grammatical person.
Subject
A person or animal that is the object of medical or scientific study
The experiment involved 12 subjects.
Person
(biology) A shoot or bud of a plant; a polyp or zooid of the compound Hydrozoa, Anthozoa, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals.
Subject
A corpse intended for anatomical study and dissection.
Person
To represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate.
Subject
One who is under surveillance
The subject was observed leaving the scene of the murder.
Person
To man, to supply with staff or crew.
Subject
(Grammar) The noun, noun phrase, or pronoun in a sentence or clause that denotes the doer of the action or what is described by the predicate.
Person
A character or part, as in a play; a specific kind or manifestation of individual character, whether in real life, or in literary or dramatic representation; an assumed character.
His first appearance upon the stage in his new person of a sycophant or juggler.
No man can long put on a person and act a part.
To bear rule, which was thy partAnd person, hadst thou known thyself aright.
How different is the same man from himself, as he sustains the person of a magistrate and that of a friend!
Subject
(Logic) The term of a proposition about which something is affirmed or denied.
Person
The bodily form of a human being; body; outward appearance; as, of comely person.
A fair persone, and strong, and young of age.
If it assume my noble father's person.
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined.
Subject
The mind or thinking part as distinguished from the object of thought.
Person
A living, self-conscious being, as distinct from an animal or a thing; a moral agent; a human being; a man, woman, or child.
Consider what person stands for; which, I think, is a thinking, intelligent being, that has reason and reflection.
Subject
A being that undergoes personal conscious or unconscious experience of itself and of the world.
Person
A human being spoken of indefinitely; one; a man; as, any person present.
Subject
The essential nature or substance of something as distinguished from its attributes.
Person
A parson; the parish priest.
Subject
To cause to experience, undergo, or be acted upon
Suspects subjected to interrogation.
Rocks subjected to intense pressure.
Person
Among Trinitarians, one of the three subdivisions of the Godhead (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost); an hypostasis.
Subject
To subjugate; subdue.
Person
One of three relations or conditions (that of speaking, that of being spoken to, and that of being spoken of) pertaining to a noun or a pronoun, and thence also to the verb of which it may be the subject.
Subject
To submit to the authority of
Peoples that subjected themselves to the emperor.
Person
A shoot or bud of a plant; a polyp or zooid of the compound Hydrozoa Anthozoa, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals.
True corms, composed of united personæ . . . usually arise by gemmation, . . . yet in sponges and corals occasionally by fusion of several originally distinct persons.
Subject
Likely to be affected by or to experience something.
A country subject to extreme heat
Menu listings and prices are subject to change.
He's subject to sneezing fits.
Person
To represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate.
Subject
Conditional upon something; used with to.
The local board sets local policy, subject to approval from the State Board.
Person
A human being;
There was too much for one person to do
Subject
Placed or situated under; lying below, or in a lower situation.
Person
A person's body (usually including their clothing);
A weapon was hidden on his person
Subject
Placed under the power of another; owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state.
Person
A grammatical category of pronouns and verb forms;
Stop talking about yourself in the third person
Subject
(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.
In the sentence ‘The cat ate the mouse’, ‘the cat’ is the subject, ‘the mouse’ being the object.
Subject
An actor; one who takes action.
The subjects and objects of power.
Subject
The main topic of a paper, work of art, discussion, field of study, etc.
Subject
A particular area of study.
Her favorite subject is physics.
Subject
A citizen in a monarchy.
I am a British subject.
Subject
A person ruled over by another, especially a monarch or state authority.
Subject
(music) The main theme or melody, especially in a fugue.
Subject
A human, animal or an inanimate object that is being examined, treated, analysed, etc.
Subject
(philosophy) A being that has subjective experiences, subjective consciousness, or a relationship with another entity.
Subject
(logic) That of which something is stated.
Subject
(math) The variable in terms of which an expression is defined.
0, we have x
Subject
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!
Subject
(transitive) To make subordinate or subservient; to subdue or enslave.
Subject
Placed or situated under; lying below, or in a lower situation.
Subject
Placed under the power of another; specifically (International Law), owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state; as, Jamaica is subject to Great Britain.
Esau was never subject to Jacob.
Subject
Exposed; liable; prone; disposed; as, a country subject to extreme heat; men subject to temptation.
All human things are subject to decay.
Subject
Obedient; submissive.
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities.
Subject
That which is placed under the authority, dominion, control, or influence of something else.
Subject
Specifically: One who is under the authority of a ruler and is governed by his laws; one who owes allegiance to a sovereign or a sovereign state; as, a subject of Queen Victoria; a British subject; a subject of the United States.
Was never subject longed to be a king,As I do long and wish to be a subject.
The subject must obey his prince, because God commands it, human laws require it.
Subject
That which is subjected, or submitted to, any physical operation or process; specifically (Anat.), a dead body used for the purpose of dissection.
Subject
That which is brought under thought or examination; that which is taken up for discussion, or concerning which anything is said or done.
Make choice of a subject, beautiful and noble, which . . . shall afford an ample field of matter wherein to expatiate.
The unhappy subject of these quarrels.
Subject
The person who is treated of; the hero of a piece; the chief character.
Writers of particular lives . . . are apt to be prejudiced in favor of their subject.
Subject
That of which anything is affirmed or predicated; the theme of a proposition or discourse; that which is spoken of; as, the nominative case is the subject of the verb.
The subject of a proposition is that concerning which anything is affirmed or denied.
Subject
That in which any quality, attribute, or relation, whether spiritual or material, inheres, or to which any of these appertain; substance; substratum.
That which manifests its qualities - in other words, that in which the appearing causes inhere, that to which they belong - is called their subject or substance, or substratum.
Subject
The principal theme, or leading thought or phrase, on which a composition or a movement is based.
The earliest known form of subject is the ecclesiastical cantus firmus, or plain song.
Subject
The incident, scene, figure, group, etc., which it is the aim of the artist to represent.
Subject
To bring under control, power, or dominion; to make subject; to subordinate; to subdue.
Firmness of mind that subjects every gratification of sense to the rule of right reason.
In one short view subjected to our eye,Gods, emperors, heroes, sages, beauties, lie.
He is the most subjected, the most nslaved, who is so in his understanding.
Subject
To expose; to make obnoxious or liable; as, credulity subjects a person to impositions.
Subject
To submit; to make accountable.
God is not bound to subject his ways of operation to the scrutiny of our thoughts.
Subject
To make subservient.
Subjected to his service angel wings.
Subject
To cause to undergo; as, to subject a substance to a white heat; to subject a person to a rigid test.
Subject
The subject matter of a conversation or discussion;
He didn't want to discuss that subject
It was a very sensitive topic
His letters were always on the theme of love
Subject
Some situation or event that is thought about;
He kept drifting off the topic
He had been thinking about the subject for several years
It is a matter for the police
Subject
A branch of knowledge;
In what discipline is his doctorate?
Teachers should be well trained in their subject
Anthropology is the study of human beings
Subject
Something (a person or object or scene) selected by an artist or photographer for graphic representation;
A moving picture of a train is more dramatic than a still picture of the same subject
Subject
A person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures; someone who is an object of investigation;
The subjects for this investigation were selected randomly
The cases that we studied were drawn from two different communities
Subject
A person who owes allegiance to that nation;
A monarch has a duty to his subjects
Subject
(grammar) one of the two main constituents of a sentence; the grammatical constituent about which something is predicated
Subject
(logic) the first term of a proposition
Subject
Cause to experience or suffer or make liable or vulnerable to;
He subjected me to his awful poetry
The sergeant subjected the new recruits to many drills
People in Chernobyl were subjected to radiation
Subject
Make accountable for;
He did not want to subject himself to the judgments of his superiors
Subject
Make subservient; force to submit or subdue
Subject
Refer for judgment or consideration;
She submitted a proposal to the agency
Subject
Not exempt from tax;
The gift will be subject to taxation
Subject
Possibly accepting or permitting;
A passage capable of misinterpretation
Open to interpretation
An issue open to question
The time is fixed by the director and players and therefore subject to much variation
Subject
Being under the power or sovereignty of another or others;
Subject peoples
A dependent prince
