Subject vs. Category — What's the Difference?
By Fiza Rafique & Urooj Arif — Updated on April 16, 2024
Subject refers to a specific area of study or discussion, focusing on a particular topic; category is a broader classification system used to organize similar subjects or objects.
Difference Between Subject and Category
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
A subject is typically specific and is often used in educational or academic contexts to describe a field of study, such as biology or history. Categories, on the other hand, are used more broadly across various disciplines to group subjects or items that share common characteristics.
In terms of structure, subjects are generally more narrowly defined and have specific content that is studied or discussed. Whereas categories function as broader labels that can encompass a wide range of subjects or items within a hierarchical or organizational system.
When discussing organization, subjects are usually parts of a curriculum or research agenda, focusing on detailed knowledge or skills. On the other hand, categories are utilized in organizational schemas like libraries, databases, and research categorization, helping to systematize information or objects.
From a user perspective, subjects offer targeted information or learning tailored to specific interests or academic requirements. Categories facilitate navigation and exploration by grouping similar subjects or themes, making it easier to locate related information or items.
The application of subjects is often seen in the formulation of syllabi, academic courses, and specialized research, providing a structured framework for education and inquiry. Categories serve a critical role in classification systems across different fields, such as taxonomy in biology, genres in literature, or segments in marketing, providing an essential tool for analysis and organization.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
A specific area of study or discussion.
A broader classification system for organizing similar items.
Scope
Narrow and focused.
Broad and inclusive.
Use Case
Education, research.
Organization, taxonomy.
User Interaction
Specific learning or inquiry.
Navigation and exploration.
Examples
Mathematics, literature.
Science, fiction.
Compare with Definitions
Subject
An area of academic study.
Physics is a popular subject among science students.
Category
A level or type within a broader system.
This question belongs to the advanced category in our quiz.
Subject
The main idea or theme of a discussion.
Our meeting's subject was the upcoming project deadline.
Category
A group with shared characteristics.
This painting falls into the category of impressionist art.
Subject
The topic discussed in a book or article.
The subject of the documentary is global warming.
Category
A division used in competition.
He competed in the heavyweight category.
Subject
In grammar, the part of a sentence about which something is said.
In the sentence She runs, she is the subject.
Category
A classification in a system.
In the library, books are sorted into different categories.
Subject
A participant in an experiment.
The subjects were monitored for 24 hours.
Category
A taxonomic rank in biology.
Humans belong to the category Mammalia.
Subject
A person or thing that is being discussed, described, or dealt with
I've said all there is to be said on the subject
He's the subject of a major new biography
Category
A class or division of people or things regarded as having particular shared characteristics
The various categories of research
Subject
A branch of knowledge studied or taught in a school, college, or university
Maths is not my best subject
Category
Each of a possibly exhaustive set of classes among which all things might be distributed.
Subject
A member of a state other than its ruler, especially one owing allegiance to a monarch or other supreme ruler
The legislation is applicable only to British subjects
Category
A specifically defined division in a system of classification; a class.
Subject
A noun or noun phrase functioning as one of the main components of a clause, being the element about which the rest of the clause is predicated.
Category
Aristotle's modes of objective being, such as quality, quantity, or relation, that are inherent in all things.
Subject
A thinking or feeling entity; the conscious mind; the ego, especially as opposed to anything external to the mind.
Category
Kant's modes of subjective understanding, such as singularity, universality, or particularity, that organize perceptions into knowledge.
Subject
Likely or prone to be affected by (a particular condition or occurrence, typically an unwelcome or unpleasant one)
He was subject to bouts of manic depression
Category
A basic logical type of philosophical conception in post-Kantian philosophy.
Subject
Dependent or conditional upon
The proposed merger is subject to the approval of the shareholders
Category
A property or structural unit of a language, such as a part of speech or a type of phrase.
Subject
Under the authority of
Ministers are subject to the laws of the land
Category
A specific grammatical defining property of a linguistic unit or class, such as number or gender in the noun and tense or voice in the verb.
Subject
Conditionally upon
Subject to the EC's agreement, we intend to set up an enterprise zone in the area
Category
(Mathematics) A class of objects, together with a class of morphisms between those objects, and an associative composition rule for those morphisms. Categories are used to study a wide variety of mathematical constructions in a similar way.
Subject
Cause or force someone or something to undergo (a particular experience or form of treatment, typically an unwelcome or unpleasant one)
He'd subjected her to a terrifying ordeal
Category
A group, often named or numbered, to which items are assigned based on similarity or defined criteria.
This steep and dangerous climb belongs to the most difficult category.
I wouldn't put this book in the same category as the author's first novel.
Subject
Bring (a person or country) under one's control or jurisdiction, typically by using force
The city had been subjected to Macedonian rule
Category
(mathematics) A collection of objects, together with a transitively closed collection of composable arrows between them, such that every object has an identity arrow, and such that arrow composition is associative.
One well-known category has sets as objects and functions as arrows.
Just as a monoid consists of an underlying set with a binary operation "on top of it" which is closed, associative and with an identity, a category consists of an underlying digraph with an arrow composition operation "on top of it" which is transitively closed, associative, and with an identity at each object. In fact, a category's composition operation, when restricted to a single one of its objects, turns that object's set of arrows (which would all be loops) into a monoid.
Subject
Being in a position or in circumstances that place one under the power or authority of another or others
Subject to the law.
Category
One of the highest classes to which the objects of knowledge or thought can be reduced, and by which they can be arranged in a system; an ultimate or undecomposable conception; a predicament.
The categories or predicaments - the former a Greek word, the latter its literal translation in the Latin language - were intended by Aristotle and his followers as an enumeration of all things capable of being named; an enumeration by the summa genera i.e., the most extensive classes into which things could be distributed.
Subject
Prone; disposed
A child who is subject to colds.
Category
Class; also, state, condition, or predicament; as, we are both in the same category.
There is in modern literature a whole class of writers standing within the same category.
Subject
Likely to incur or receive; exposed
A directive subject to misinterpretation.
Category
A collection of things sharing a common attribute;
There are two classes of detergents
Subject
Contingent or dependent
A vacation subject to changing weather.
Category
A general concept that marks divisions or coordinations in a conceptual scheme
Subject
One who is under the rule of another or others, especially one who owes allegiance to a government or ruler.
Subject
One concerning which something is said or done; a person or thing being discussed or dealt with
A subject of gossip.
Subject
Something that is treated or indicated in a work of art.
Subject
(Music) A theme of a composition, especially a fugue.
Subject
A course or area of study
Math is her best subject.
Subject
A basis for action; a cause.
Subject
One that experiences or is subjected to something
The subject of ridicule.
Subject
A person or animal that is the object of medical or scientific study
The experiment involved 12 subjects.
Subject
A corpse intended for anatomical study and dissection.
Subject
One who is under surveillance
The subject was observed leaving the scene of the murder.
Subject
(Grammar) The noun, noun phrase, or pronoun in a sentence or clause that denotes the doer of the action or what is described by the predicate.
Subject
(Logic) The term of a proposition about which something is affirmed or denied.
Subject
The mind or thinking part as distinguished from the object of thought.
Subject
A being that undergoes personal conscious or unconscious experience of itself and of the world.
Subject
The essential nature or substance of something as distinguished from its attributes.
Subject
To cause to experience, undergo, or be acted upon
Suspects subjected to interrogation.
Rocks subjected to intense pressure.
Subject
To subjugate; subdue.
Subject
To submit to the authority of
Peoples that subjected themselves to the emperor.
Subject
Likely to be affected by or to experience something.
A country subject to extreme heat
Menu listings and prices are subject to change.
He's subject to sneezing fits.
Subject
Conditional upon something; used with to.
The local board sets local policy, subject to approval from the State Board.
Subject
Placed or situated under; lying below, or in a lower situation.
Subject
Placed under the power of another; owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state.
Subject
(grammar) In a clause: the word or word group (usually a noun phrase) about whom the statement is made. In active clauses with verbs denoting an action, the subject and the actor are usually the same.
In the sentence ‘The cat ate the mouse’, ‘the cat’ is the subject, ‘the mouse’ being the object.
Subject
An actor; one who takes action.
The subjects and objects of power.
Subject
The main topic of a paper, work of art, discussion, field of study, etc.
Subject
A particular area of study.
Her favorite subject is physics.
Subject
A citizen in a monarchy.
I am a British subject.
Subject
A person ruled over by another, especially a monarch or state authority.
Subject
(music) The main theme or melody, especially in a fugue.
Subject
A human, animal or an inanimate object that is being examined, treated, analysed, etc.
Subject
(philosophy) A being that has subjective experiences, subjective consciousness, or a relationship with another entity.
Subject
(logic) That of which something is stated.
Subject
(math) The variable in terms of which an expression is defined.
0, we have x
Subject
To cause (someone or something) to undergo a particular experience, especially one that is unpleasant or unwanted.
I came here to buy souvenirs, not to be subjected to a tirade of abuse!
Subject
(transitive) To make subordinate or subservient; to subdue or enslave.
Subject
Placed or situated under; lying below, or in a lower situation.
Subject
Placed under the power of another; specifically (International Law), owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state; as, Jamaica is subject to Great Britain.
Esau was never subject to Jacob.
Subject
Exposed; liable; prone; disposed; as, a country subject to extreme heat; men subject to temptation.
All human things are subject to decay.
Subject
Obedient; submissive.
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities.
Subject
That which is placed under the authority, dominion, control, or influence of something else.
Subject
Specifically: One who is under the authority of a ruler and is governed by his laws; one who owes allegiance to a sovereign or a sovereign state; as, a subject of Queen Victoria; a British subject; a subject of the United States.
Was never subject longed to be a king,As I do long and wish to be a subject.
The subject must obey his prince, because God commands it, human laws require it.
Subject
That which is subjected, or submitted to, any physical operation or process; specifically (Anat.), a dead body used for the purpose of dissection.
Subject
That which is brought under thought or examination; that which is taken up for discussion, or concerning which anything is said or done.
Make choice of a subject, beautiful and noble, which . . . shall afford an ample field of matter wherein to expatiate.
The unhappy subject of these quarrels.
Subject
The person who is treated of; the hero of a piece; the chief character.
Writers of particular lives . . . are apt to be prejudiced in favor of their subject.
Subject
That of which anything is affirmed or predicated; the theme of a proposition or discourse; that which is spoken of; as, the nominative case is the subject of the verb.
The subject of a proposition is that concerning which anything is affirmed or denied.
Subject
That in which any quality, attribute, or relation, whether spiritual or material, inheres, or to which any of these appertain; substance; substratum.
That which manifests its qualities - in other words, that in which the appearing causes inhere, that to which they belong - is called their subject or substance, or substratum.
Subject
The principal theme, or leading thought or phrase, on which a composition or a movement is based.
The earliest known form of subject is the ecclesiastical cantus firmus, or plain song.
Subject
The incident, scene, figure, group, etc., which it is the aim of the artist to represent.
Subject
To bring under control, power, or dominion; to make subject; to subordinate; to subdue.
Firmness of mind that subjects every gratification of sense to the rule of right reason.
In one short view subjected to our eye,Gods, emperors, heroes, sages, beauties, lie.
He is the most subjected, the most nslaved, who is so in his understanding.
Subject
To expose; to make obnoxious or liable; as, credulity subjects a person to impositions.
Subject
To submit; to make accountable.
God is not bound to subject his ways of operation to the scrutiny of our thoughts.
Subject
To make subservient.
Subjected to his service angel wings.
Subject
To cause to undergo; as, to subject a substance to a white heat; to subject a person to a rigid test.
Subject
The subject matter of a conversation or discussion;
He didn't want to discuss that subject
It was a very sensitive topic
His letters were always on the theme of love
Subject
Some situation or event that is thought about;
He kept drifting off the topic
He had been thinking about the subject for several years
It is a matter for the police
Subject
A branch of knowledge;
In what discipline is his doctorate?
Teachers should be well trained in their subject
Anthropology is the study of human beings
Subject
Something (a person or object or scene) selected by an artist or photographer for graphic representation;
A moving picture of a train is more dramatic than a still picture of the same subject
Subject
A person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures; someone who is an object of investigation;
The subjects for this investigation were selected randomly
The cases that we studied were drawn from two different communities
Subject
A person who owes allegiance to that nation;
A monarch has a duty to his subjects
Subject
(grammar) one of the two main constituents of a sentence; the grammatical constituent about which something is predicated
Subject
(logic) the first term of a proposition
Subject
Cause to experience or suffer or make liable or vulnerable to;
He subjected me to his awful poetry
The sergeant subjected the new recruits to many drills
People in Chernobyl were subjected to radiation
Subject
Make accountable for;
He did not want to subject himself to the judgments of his superiors
Subject
Make subservient; force to submit or subdue
Subject
Refer for judgment or consideration;
She submitted a proposal to the agency
Subject
Not exempt from tax;
The gift will be subject to taxation
Subject
Possibly accepting or permitting;
A passage capable of misinterpretation
Open to interpretation
An issue open to question
The time is fixed by the director and players and therefore subject to much variation
Subject
Being under the power or sovereignty of another or others;
Subject peoples
A dependent prince
Common Curiosities
Can a subject belong to multiple categories?
Yes, a subject can belong to multiple categories depending on its characteristics and the criteria of the categorization system.
How do categories help in organization?
Categories help organize information or items in a systematic way, making it easier to navigate and understand large sets of data or collections.
What is a category?
A category is a grouping system that organizes items or subjects based on shared characteristics.
Is mathematics a subject or a category?
Mathematics is generally considered a subject, though it can be categorized under broader categories like sciences.
What is a subject?
A subject is a specific area of study or focus within a broader field.
How are subjects used in education?
Subjects are used to structure courses, syllabi, and research in educational settings.
Can categories overlap?
Yes, categories can overlap when different classification criteria are used.
What role do subjects play in research?
Subjects define the specific areas of focus for research studies and experiments.
How are categories applied in databases?
In databases, categories are used to classify data in various fields, which helps in efficient data retrieval.
What is the difference between a subject and a category in terms of scope?
A subject is typically more focused and specific, whereas a category has a broader scope.
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Written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
Co-written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
