What is a Subordinate?

Answer:
In a job situation, a subordinate is the direct opposite

of a superior. A subordinate reports to someone else in the company, and has the responsibility to perform or accept duties or tasks assigned to her by her superior.

As a subordinate, the employee has an obligation to perform these tasks, whether or not she wants to. Subordinates may also be supervisors, as many people are somewhere in the middle of the chain of command, both having authority over some people, and reporting to others. Subordinates often have aspirations of becoming supervisors or moving up in the corporate ladder, to positions in which they have more authority.