Library / English Dictionary

SUBSIDE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wear off or die down

Example:

The pain subsided

Synonyms:

lessen; subside

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "subside" is one way to...):

weaken (become weaker)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

The water subsides

Derivation:

subsidence (an abatement in intensity or degree (as in the manifestations of a disease))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Descend into or as if into some soft substance or place

Example:

She subsided into the chair

Synonyms:

sink; subside

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "subside" is one way to...):

come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Sink down or precipitate

Example:

the mud subsides when the waters become calm

Synonyms:

settle; subside

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "subside" is one way to...):

go down; go under; settle; sink (go under)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 4

Meaning:

Sink to a lower level or form a depression

Example:

the valleys subside

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "subside" is one way to...):

dip; sink (appear to move downward)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

subsidence (the sudden collapse of something into a hollow beneath it)

subsidence; subsiding (a gradual sinking to a lower level)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The then investigated the long-term effects of this infection, after the virus was cleared and the meningitis had subsided.

(Meningitis changes immune cell makeup in the mouse brain lining, National Institutes of Health)

His apparent partiality had subsided, his attentions were over, he was the admirer of some one else.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Such radio blackouts are only ongoing during the course of a flare, and so they have since subsided.

(Solar Dynamics Observatory Captures Images of a Mid-Level Solar Flare, NASA)

The seizures tend to subside after the fifteenth week of life.

(Benign Neonatal Epilepsy, NCI Thesaurus)

Kelly subsided with some muttering, and the Kanaka flashed his white teeth in a grateful smile.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Mycroft Holmes struggled out of his overcoat and subsided into an armchair.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Hour after hour passed away, and the wearied Catherine had heard three proclaimed by all the clocks in the house before the tempest subsided or she unknowingly fell fast asleep.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

“One more cheer for Cap'n Smollett,” cried Long John when the first had subsided.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

First, I smiled to myself and felt elate; but this fierce pleasure subsided in me as fast as did the accelerated throb of my pulses.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It usually affects elderly people and tends to subside spontaneously.

(Bullous Pemphigoid, NCI Thesaurus)