Subjugators

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Those who exert influence or mastery over others in various contexts
2. Individuals or collectives that force compliance or subordination upon others
3. Persons who impose authority and dominate others through power or force

Etymology: The core of this word is a yoke. Latin "iugum" meant a yoke for oxen or other draft animals, and "iugāre" meant to join things under one. Add "sub-", meaning "under", and "subiugāre" came to mean bringing someone beneath a yoke, which is to say conquering them. The agent form "subiugātor" was the person doing that bringing under, and English borrowed it as "subjugator". Notice that the English word is a close relative of "subjugate", which itself was borrowed from the same Latin verb. The "-or" ending, added to form a doer, is the same ending found in words like "actor" and "conductor". So the word names a person who puts another under a yoke, and its modern sense of anyone who asserts mastery over others is a broadening of that image of animals being harnessed.

Synonyms: conquerors, oppressors, domineers

Antonyms: liberators, emancipators