subsidiary
Americanadjective
-
serving to assist or supplement; auxiliary; supplementary.
-
subordinate or secondary.
subsidiary issues.
-
of or relating to a subsidiary.
noun
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subsidiaries
plural
-
a subsidiary thing or person.
-
Music. a subordinate theme or subject.
adjective
-
serving to aid or supplement; auxiliary
-
of lesser importance; subordinate in function
noun
-
a person who or thing that is subsidiary
-
short for subsidiary company
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
Sibneft contributed money, while the subsidiary Yugraneft provided the licences for the oil fields.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Brazilian prosecutors on Friday filed an unprecedented lawsuit against oil giant Shell's subsidiary in the country, demanding $108 million in compensation over deadly 2024 floods.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026
UnitedHealth Group, Humana and CVS Health subsidiary Aetna are among those exiting markets or tweaking their coverage offerings as they try to protect profit margins instead of pushing for growth in new subscribers, analysts said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
This week, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said AI is “no more” and promised to change the name of his AI company, SpaceXAI, a subsidiary of SpaceX, to SpaceXSI.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026
The subsidiary robots broke formation, waited a moment, then clattered off into the distance—very rapidly.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
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
Tata Sons is categorized as an investment firm because it holds stakes in Tata subsidiaries and can inject capital into them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
As for HPE, Conti said that networking is the “earnings engine,” given its ownership of networking subsidiaries Juniper Networks and Aruba Networks under the umbrella of HPE Networking.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
Ergen has put Dish subsidiaries into bankruptcy protection and is positioning EchoStar to emerge with tens of billions of dollars from spectrum sales, including to SpaceX, which has indicated plans to expand into mobile service.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
“That? I don’t know. But I’ve got a notion. Remember, those subsidiaries were Dave’s ‘fingers.’
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
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.
