subsidiary
Americanadjective
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serving to assist or supplement; auxiliary; supplementary.
-
subordinate or secondary.
subsidiary issues.
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of or relating to a subsidiary.
noun
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a subsidiary thing or person.
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Music. a subordinate theme or subject.
adjective
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serving to aid or supplement; auxiliary
-
of lesser importance; subordinate in function
noun
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a person who or thing that is subsidiary
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short for subsidiary company
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of subsidiary
1535–45; < Latin subsidiārius, equivalent to subsidi ( um ) ( see subsidy) + -ārius -ary
Explanation
If a company belongs to another company, then the owned company is a subsidiary. When a large company bought your small business, you became a subsidiary. It still hurts to call them the parent company, since you publish novels and they make toilet paper. The adjective form of subsidiary describes something that is of secondary importance or that functions in a supporting capacity. In addition to running the band program, you're a member of several subsidiary committees like the fund raising committee and the hospitality committee. Traffic on the road was light when you drove outside the city, but as more subsidiary roads joined with the main one, traffic quickly became congested.
Vocabulary lists containing subsidiary
Power Prefix: sub-
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Royce Investment Partners is a subsidiary of Franklin Templeton and is based in New York.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 4, 2026
Vincent Holtam, who was then general manager for onshore assets for Shell's Nigerian subsidiary, replied to warn colleagues that doing so could "do more harm than good".
From BBC • Jun. 3, 2026
The companies identified as a part of the settlement included the maker of the smoke bomb, Wholesale Fireworks Corp., and its subsidiary, American Fireworks Wholesale LLC, which are both based in Ohio.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 3, 2026
The subsidiary generates roughly a quarter of IBM’s software revenue and 12% of total sales, “but arguably drives a lot of the perception around the stock.”
From Barron's • Jun. 1, 2026
The subsidiary reason is that the Party member, like the proletarian, tolerates present-day conditions partly because he has no standards of comparison.
From "1984" by George Orwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
