subsidiary

American  

[suhb-sid-ee-er-ee] / səbˈsɪd iˌɛr i /

adjective

1. serving to assist or supplement; auxiliary; supplementary.

2. subordinate or secondary.

   subsidiary issues.

3. of or relating to a subsidiary.

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noun

• subsidiaries
  plural

1. a subsidiary thing or person.

2. subsidiary company.

3. Music. a subordinate theme or subject.

subsidiary British  

/ səbˈsɪdɪərɪ /

adjective

1. serving to aid or supplement; auxiliary

2. of lesser importance; subordinate in function

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noun

1. a person who or thing that is subsidiary

2. short for subsidiary company

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subsidiariness
  noun
• nonsubsidiary
  adjective
• unsubsidiary
  adjective
• subsidiarily
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• subsidiaries
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of subsidiary

1535–45; < Latin subsidiārius, equivalent to subsidi ( um ) ( see subsidy) + -ārius -ary

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

subsidiary subsidiaries

Federal Insurance Company, now a subsidiary of global insurance company Chubb, sued Wallace in 2006 and 2021.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

IPO plan for its flash-memory subsidiary and American Express cuts 5% of its headcount.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026

The jet used in Ghosn's dramatic escape from Japan to Turkey belonged to TOA, a subsidiary of the Sodiat Group, though it was being operated by Turkish company MNG Jet during the fugitive journey.

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026

As soon as these issues began to surface, local media pointed fingers at the company managing venue operations: the Japanese subsidiary of France's GL Events.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

I hailed an autocab outside the Mailbox, making sure to select one operated by a local cab company and not a SupraCab, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of IOI.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed those subsidiaries aren’t part of the voluntary buyout program.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026

In August, EchoStar’s Hughes Network Systems filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, shortly after its Dish Wireless and Dish DBS subsidiaries had done so.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

Between August and September more than 30 haze source points were recorded on land managed by its two Indonesian subsidiaries, according to Greenpeace.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

The platform—an early peek at an architecture to be shared among VW AG subsidiaries, including Bentley—has a load-bearing battery structure holding 113 kWh of pouch-style NMC lithium batteries, accounting for 1,365 pounds of overall weight.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

But in an emergency, all six subsidiaries must be mobilized immediately and simultaneously.

From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov

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Related Words

• ancillary
• supplementary

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