subsidize
Americanverb
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to aid or support with a subsidy
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to obtain the aid of by means of a subsidy
Usage
What does subsidize mean? To subsidize is to grant a subsidy—a direct payment made by a government to a company or other organization as a form of assistance. The process of subsidizing is subsidization. Governments often subsidize particular industries, such as through granting farm subsidies. The word subsidy is most commonly used to refer to such payments. More generally, subsidy can refer to any grant or monetary contribution. More specifically, it can refer to a payment made by one government to another for a particular service, often according to a treaty. Less commonly, the word subsidize can mean to gain someone’s cooperation through bribery. Subsidize is sometimes spelled subsidise (especially in British English). Example: The government is subsidizing my company to help expedite the manufacturing of healthcare products.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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desubsidizationnoun
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subsidizationnoun
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subsidizernoun
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desubsidizeverb (used with object)
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nonsubsidizedadjective
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subsidizableadjective
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unsubsidizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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subsidizesimple
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subsidizessimple
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have subsidizedperfect
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has subsidizedperfect
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am subsidizingprogressive
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are subsidizingprogressive
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is subsidizingprogressive
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have been subsidizingperfect progressive
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has been subsidizingperfect progressive
Past
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subsidizedsimple
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had subsidizedperfect
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was subsidizingprogressive
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were subsidizingprogressive
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had been subsidizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of subsidize
Explanation
To subsidize something is to support it by providing it with money or other resources. Don't expect your parents to subsidize your addiction to solid-gold puppy figurines. We can break down the word subsidize to help us remember its meaning. The prefix sub- means "under, below" and sedēre means "to sit." (A submarine is a ship that goes under the sea.) So to subsidize is to underwrite something financially, providing the support that keeps it going. For example, our taxes are used by the government to subsidize many educational and social programs.
Vocabulary lists containing subsidize
Donald Trump Inauguration Address- January 20, 2017
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State of the Union Address 2016
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Lyddie
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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:
Faced with growing discontent, authorities have cut taxes and fees used to subsidize renewables.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Annuities squeeze more income out of retirement savings than anything else, because the people who die young subsidize those who live a long time.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
Researchers have said it doesn’t subsidize housing deeply enough to reach truly low-income renters, so it produces housing in markets and at income levels that already have a surplus instead of filling a shortage.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
Even with the expansion, the state funds enough slots to subsidize only about 18% of eligible children.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
The industry of Angolans doesn’t subsidize foreigners, or any castles with moats, and their children are likely to get vaccinations and learn to read.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
To help make housing affordable, the Singaporean government subsidizes housing by building apartments around the city.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
It’s not known who subsidizes the low rents at C Street, which is technically a church and doesn’t disclose its backers.
From Salon ● May 29, 2026
"Businesses are going to make a fortune, and that's why you cannot continue to have a payroll tax system that taxes jobs and then subsidizes automation," the governor said in a statement.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
He also lacked an enormous budget or access to the huge data centers that American artificial-intelligence companies have, but was able to tap a government-sponsored program that subsidizes computing power.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026
Inside Jilin Province, China created the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, where forty percent of the population is ethnic Korean and where the government subsidizes Korean-language schools and publications.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
In 2014, he won a Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting for an investigation into abusive landlords and squalid conditions in publicly subsidized housing for Tampa’s homeless.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
“It was really important to leave my daughter in a place where I knew she was going to be well taken care of,” said Torres, whose child’s enrollment is subsidized by the state.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
The next governor will take the helm after Gov. Gavin Newsom prioritized learning for children under 5 by expanding transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds and opening more subsidized child-care spaces.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
Seniors also have the choice of enrolling in private federally subsidized Medicare Advantage insurance plans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
Refugees were not allowed to work, and they were not eligible for subsidized housing.
From "Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference" by Warren St. John
Chinese open-source AI is subsidizing the rest of the world through cheap access to intelligence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Currently tenants with vouchers subsidizing their rent payments need a government inspection before they can move in.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
And it will preserve credibility for the most important index on the market, while keeping unwitting buyers from subsidizing a business that has not earned the right to their largesse.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
DRI warns: “Local utilities and ratepayers in data center cluster regions like Northern Nevada also risk bearing the costs of subsidizing AI and computing services as power grids expand their infrastructure.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
They are subsidizing the powerful agency of the secular press, particularly the Sunday newspapers, and thousands of the people are confronting these puzzling questions.
From Oriental Religions and Christianity A Course of Lectures Delivered on the Ely Foundation Before the Students of Union Theological Seminary, New York, 1891 by Frank F. Ellinwood
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.
