Verb
To bring under; to conquer by force or the exertion of superior power, and bring into permanent subjection; to reduce under dominion; to vanquish.
To overpower so as to disable from further resistance; to crush.
To destroy the force of; to overcome; as, medicines subdue a fever.
To render submissive; to bring under command; to reduce to mildness or obedience; to tame; as, to subdue a stubborn child; to subdue the temper or passions.
To overcome, as by persuasion or other mild means; as, to subdue opposition by argument or entreaties.
To reduce to tenderness; to melt; to soften; as, to subdue ferocity by tears.
To make mellow; to break, as land; also, to destroy, as weeds.
To reduce the intensity or degree of; to tone down; to soften; as, to subdue the brilliancy of colors.
Source: Webster's dictionaryThe supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. Sun Tzu
Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you've conquered human nature . Charles Dickens
For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill. Sun Tzu
The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment but it does no remove the necessity of subduing again and a nation is not governed, which is perpetually to be conquered. Edmund Burke
The loneliness you get by the sea is personal and alive. It doesn't subdue you and make you feel abject. It's stimulating loneliness. Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Guide the people by law, subdue them by punishment; they may shun crime, but will be void of shame. Guide them by example, subdue them by courtesy; they will learn shame, and come to be good. Confucius