submissive posture
Body language surrender
A submissive posture is body language that signals deference, non-aggression, or yielding to another's authority.
In animals, this includes lowered heads, averted eyes, exposed bellies, or crouching.
In humans, similar cues apply—slouched shoulders, downcast gaze, making oneself smaller: He adopted a submissive posture when the boss entered.
The term appears in discussions of animal behavior, social dynamics, and BDSM contexts.
- bowedCurved or bent over
- bent kneeLeg folded at joint
- crouchedBent knees, lowered body
- coweringShrinking in fear
- hunchedBent at spine
kneeling · lowered · yielding · deferential · meek · cap in hand · groveling · slumped · shrinking · timid · averted · downcast · backing down · belly-up · rolled over · fetal · curled · prostrate
- pet posesloaf, sploot, sit, sitting, standing
- submission gestureskowtow, genuflection, genuflect, genuflecting, prostration
submissive posturedominance display
Show of superior status
power pose · commanding presence · standing tall · chest out · head held high
submissive posturefighting stance
Combatant's ready position
puffing up · hackles raised · bared teeth · puffed up · looming
submissive postureswagger
Confident, boastful manner
strutting · open posture · head held high · chin up · shoulders back
submit, submissive, submission, submissively, submissiveness, submitted, submitting, submits, posture