Submissive bearing (8)
I believe the answer is:
yielding
I believe this is a double definition.
'submissive' is the first definition.
(I've seen this before)
'bearing' is the second definition.
('yield' can be a synonym of 'bear')
(Other definitions for yielding that I've seen before include "Soft, rather than rigid" , "Ceding, conceding" , "Amenable" , "that's not iron?" , "Backing down" .)