adjunct

[aj-uhngkt]

noun

1. something added to another thing but not essential to it.

   Synonyms: supplement, appendix

2. a person associated with lesser status, rank, authority, etc., in some duty or service; assistant.

   Synonyms: attaché, aide

3. a person working at an institution, as a college or university, without having full or permanent status.

   My lawyer works two nights a week as an adjunct, teaching business law at the college.

4. Grammar.,  a modifying form, word, or phrase depending on some other form, word, or phrase, especially an element of clause structure with adverbial function.

adjective

1. joined or associated, especially in an auxiliary or subordinate relationship.

2. attached or belonging without full or permanent status.

   an adjunct surgeon on the hospital staff.

adjunct

/ ˈædʒʌŋkt, əˈdʒʌŋktɪv /

noun

1. something incidental or not essential that is added to something else

2. a person who is subordinate to another

3. grammar

   1. part of a sentence other than the subject or the predicate

   2. (in systemic grammar) part of a sentence other than the subject, predicator, object, or complement; usually a prepositional or adverbial group

   3. part of a sentence that may be omitted without making the sentence ungrammatical; a modifier

4. logic another name for accident

adjective

1. added or connected in a secondary or subordinate position; auxiliary

Other Word Forms

• adjunctly adverb
• adjunctive adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of adjunct¹

1580–90; < Latin adjunctus joined to (past participle of adjungere ), equivalent to ad- ad- + jung- (nasal variant of jug- yoke ¹ ) + -tus past participle suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of adjunct¹

C16: from Latin adjunctus, past participle of adjungere to _adjoin

Synonym Study

See addition.

Example Sentences

Dr. Shaywitz, a physician and scientist, is founder of Astounding HealthTech, a lecturer at Harvard Medical School and an adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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Mr. Early is an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and a co-author of “The Myth of American Inequality.”

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“Gen Z is leading this,” said Bob Mitchell, founder of Mitchell Partnership Alliances and adjunct professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business.

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Mr. Steiner is an emeritus professor of neuroscience at City University of New York and an adjunct professor of molecular pharmacology, physiology and biotechnology at Brown University Alpert Medical School.

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“You can get a contaminated surface even though there’s no obvious blood,” says Dr. John Ward, director of the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination and an adjunct professor at Emory University.

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