Submit

How to spell submit

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce submit

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does submit mean?

1. verbTo present a document, application, or proposal to someone in authority for their consideration.
2. verbTo accept or yield to a superior force, authority, or will.

Submit in a sentence

• Please submit your expense claim before the end of the month.

• The rebels refused to submit to the new regime.

• Candidates must submit a covering letter with the application form.

• She would not submit to pressure from the board.

Where does submit come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin submittere, which combined sub, meaning 'under' or 'beneath', with mittere, meaning 'to send' or 'to let go'. The literal sense was 'to place or send under', and from that came the ideas of lowering oneself, yielding to a stronger power, and laying something before an authority for judgement. English adopted it in the late 1300s, at first chiefly in the sense of submitting or surrendering to someone's control. The everyday modern meaning, handing in a document or proposal for review, grew naturally out of 'placing something before' an authority. The same mittere root sends its way through a whole family of English words, including transmit, permit, and mission, so the double-meaning of 'send' and 'yield' both trace back to that one Latin verb.

How the word is built

• sub- (under)
• mit (from Latin mittere: to send)