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Boss vs. Subordinate — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Boss and Subordinate

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Definitions

Boss

A person who is in charge of a worker or organization
Union bosses
Her boss offered her a promotion

Subordinate

Lower in rank or position
His subordinate officers

Boss

A stud on the centre of a shield.

Subordinate

A person under the authority or control of another within an organization
He was mild-mannered, especially with his subordinates

Boss

A large mass of igneous rock protruding through other strata.

Subordinate

Treat or regard as of lesser importance than something else
Practical considerations were subordinated to political expediency
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Boss

A cow.

Subordinate

Belonging to a lower or inferior class or rank; secondary.

Boss

Give (someone) orders in a domineering manner
You're always bossing us about

Subordinate

Subject to the authority or control of another.

Boss

Excellent; outstanding
She's a real boss chick

Subordinate

One that is subordinate.
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Boss

An employer or supervisor.

Subordinate

To put in a lower or inferior rank or class.

Boss

One who makes decisions or exercises authority.

Subordinate

To make subservient; subdue.

Boss

A professional politician who controls a party or a political machine.

Subordinate

Placed in a lower class, rank, or position.

Boss

A circular protuberance or knoblike swelling, as on the horns of certain animals.

Subordinate

Submissive or inferior to, or controlled by authority.

Boss

A raised area used as ornamentation.

Subordinate

Dependent on and either modifying or complementing the main clause
In the sentence “The barbecue finished before John arrived”, the subordinate clause “before John arrived” specifies the time of the main clause, “The barbecue finished”.

Boss

(Architecture) A raised ornament, such as one at the intersection of the ribs in a vaulted roof.

Subordinate

Descending in a regular series.

Boss

An enlarged part of a shaft to which another shaft is coupled or to which a wheel or gear is keyed.

Subordinate

(countable) One who is subordinate.

Boss

A hub, especially of a propeller.

Subordinate

(transitive) To make subservient.

Boss

A cow or calf.

Subordinate

(transitive) To treat as of less value or importance.

Boss

To give orders to, especially in an arrogant or domineering manner
Bossing us around.

Subordinate

To make of lower priority in order of payment in bankruptcy.

Boss

To emboss.

Subordinate

Placed in a lower order, class, or rank; holding a lower or inferior position.
The several kinds and subordinate species of each are easily distinguished.

Boss

First-rate; topnotch.

Subordinate

Inferior in order, nature, dignity, power, importance, or the like.
It was subordinate, not enslaved, to the understanding.

Boss

A person who oversees and directs the work of others; a supervisor.

Subordinate

One who stands in order or rank below another; - distinguished from a principal.

Boss

A person in charge of a business or company.
Chat turned to whisper when the boss entered the conference room.
My boss complains that I'm always late to work.

Subordinate

To place in a lower order or class; to make or consider as of less value or importance; as, to subordinate one creature to another.

Boss

A leader, the head of an organized group or team.
They named him boss because he had good leadership skills.

Subordinate

To make subject; to subject or subdue; as, to subordinate the passions to reason.

Boss

The head of a political party in a given region or district.
He is the Republican boss in Kentucky.

Subordinate

An assistant subject to the authority or control of another

Boss

A term of address to a man.
Yes, boss.

Subordinate

A word that is more specific than a given word

Boss

(video games) An enemy, often at the end of a level, that is particularly challenging and must be beaten in order to progress.

Subordinate

Rank or order as less important or consider of less value;
Art is sometimes subordinated to Science in these schools

Boss

(humorous) Wife.
There's no olive oil; will sunflower oil do? — I'll have to run that by the boss.

Subordinate

Make subordinate, dependent, or subservient;
Our wishes have to be subordinated to that of our ruler

Boss

A swelling, lump or protuberance in an animal, person or object.

Subordinate

Lower in rank or importance

Boss

(geology) A lump-like mass of rock, especially one projecting through a stratum of different rock.

Subordinate

Subject or submissive to authority or the control of another;
A subordinate kingdom

Boss

A convex protuberance in hammered work, especially the rounded projection in the centre of a shield.

Subordinate

Of a clause; unable to stand alone syntactically as a complete sentence;
A subordinate (or dependent) clause functions as a noun or adjective or adverb within a sentence

Boss

(mechanics) A protrusion, frequently a cylinder of material that extends beyond a hole.

Subordinate

Inferior in rank or status;
The junior faculty
A lowly corporal
Petty officialdom
A subordinate functionary

Boss

(architectural element) A knob or projection, usually at the intersection of ribs in a vault.

Boss

(archery) A target block, made of foam but historically made of hay bales, to which a target face is attached.

Boss

A wooden vessel for the mortar used in tiling or masonry, hung by a hook from the laths, or from the rounds of a ladder.

Boss

A head or reservoir of water.

Boss

(obsolete) A hassock or small seat, especially made from a bundle of straw.

Boss

(transitive) To exercise authoritative control over; to tell (someone) what to do, often repeatedly.

Boss

(transitive) To decorate with bosses; to emboss.

Boss

Of excellent quality, first-rate.
That is a boss Zefron poster.

Boss

Any protuberant part; a round, swelling part or body; a knoblike process; as, a boss of wood.

Boss

A protuberant ornament on any work, either of different material from that of the work or of the same, as upon a buckler or bridle; a stud; a knob; the central projection of a shield. See Umbilicus.

Boss

A projecting ornament placed at the intersection of the ribs of ceilings, whether vaulted or flat, and in other situations.

Boss

A wooden vessel for the mortar used in tiling or masonry, hung by a hook from the laths, or from the rounds of a ladder.

Boss

The enlarged part of a shaft, on which a wheel is keyed, or at the end, where it is coupled to another.

Boss

A head or reservoir of water.

Boss

A master workman or superintendent; a director or manager; a political dictator.

Boss

To ornament with bosses; to stud.

Boss

A person who exercises control over workers;
If you want to leave early you have to ask the foreman

Boss

A person responsible for hiring workers;
The boss hired three more men for the new job

Boss

A person who exercises control and makes decisions;
He is his own boss now

Boss

A leader in a political party who controls votes and dictates appointments;
Party bosses have a reputation for corruption

Boss

A circular rounded projection or protuberance

Boss

Raise in a relief;
Embossed stationary

Boss

Exceptionally good;
A boss hand at carpentry
His brag cornfield

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