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

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

subsidiary subsidiaries

And next to the opening Warner Bros. logo, there’s an asterisk that reads, “A wholly owned subsidiary of the Acme Corporation.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet, will in the coming weeks start mapping the city's streets and conducting tests with specialist drivers at the wheel.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

XPeng said separately Monday that its Dogotix subsidiary entered an agreement to raise more than $900 million, with backing from investors including Tencent and Alibaba.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

Redfin, a subsidiary of Rocket Cos., said the resolution is a significant win for the company, as well as consumers across the country.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

For one week all of Hyper Base had stopped dead, barring some paper work on the subsidiary asteroids of the group.

From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov

Disney and TikTok have agreed a deal which will allow creators to use clips from Disney films, including its subsidiaries, in their videos.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

All three of their adult children have worked at SK subsidiaries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

It has pressed ahead with layoffs in subsidiaries including in the Spanish city of Barcelona, where staff have walked out on strike over the job cuts in recent weeks.

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

The company is based in Hawthorne, CA and has subsidiaries in Luxembourg and the United States.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

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

From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov

Related Words

• ancillary
• supplementary