Vocabulary in context – what does submissive usually mean in the context of a relationship?

Introduction / Context:
The word submissive is frequently used in everyday discussions about personality and relationships. In this question, you are asked to select the option that best explains what submissive means in the context of a relationship between two people. This checks your knowledge of real life vocabulary, not just dictionary definitions, and it also touches on how power and decision making can be distributed in a partnership.

Given Data / Assumptions:

The focus is on ordinary romantic or close relationships, not on technical psychological or legal meanings.
Submissive is being contrasted with behaviours like dominating, refusing to listen, or ignoring needs.
The correct description should reflect a pattern of yielding and allowing the other person to take the lead.

Concept / Approach:
In common usage, a submissive person in a relationship is someone who usually lets the other partner decide, avoids conflict, and tends to go along with what the other person wants. Such a person may be gentle, accommodating, or passive. Submissive does not mean uncaring, and it does not mean that the person is always wrong or always silent, but it does suggest that they are less likely to insist on their own way. Therefore, the correct option must describe someone who yields rather than someone who dominates or ignores the partner.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recall that submissive is often used as the opposite of dominant or assertive in a relationship. Step 2: Read each option and decide whether it shows taking control or giving up control. Step 3: Option A describes a person who always dominates and controls the other partner, which is the opposite of submissive. Step 4: Option B shows someone who refuses to listen, which signals stubbornness rather than a yielding attitude. Step 5: Option C describes someone who tends to yield to the partner's wishes and avoids taking the lead, which fits the idea of submissive behaviour. Step 6: Options D and E both suggest negative but different traits: being uncaring or frequently changing partners. Neither captures the idea of yielding or being compliant.

Verification / Alternative check:
Imagine a couple making a decision about where to go for dinner. If one partner usually says, You decide, I am fine with whatever you choose, and rarely pushes for their own preference, that partner is showing submissive behaviour. This matches option C exactly. If a partner always insists on their own choice, that person would be described as dominant or controlling rather than submissive. If someone never cares about the partner's needs, that is selfishness, not submission. This comparison confirms that option C is the only accurate explanation of the term in a relationship context.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A is the description of a dominant or controlling partner, which is very different from submissive.
Option B indicates closed minded behaviour and refusal to listen, not yielding behaviour.
Option D describes neglect, where a person does not care about the partner's needs, which is not the same as being submissive.
Option E focuses on frequently changing partners, which describes instability or lack of commitment, not a submissive personality style.

Common Pitfalls:
Some learners confuse submissive with weak, uncaring, or indecisive. However, submissive behaviour is mainly about how decisions are made and whose preferences are followed in a relationship. A submissive person might care deeply but simply prefer to let the other person lead. When answering such questions, focus carefully on the core behaviour that the word describes and ignore emotional reactions to whether the behaviour is good or bad.

Final Answer:
In everyday relationship language, submissive usually refers to someone who tends to yield to the partner's wishes and avoids taking the lead.