supplemental
Americanadjective
-
(of a pleading, an affidavit, etc.) added to furnish what is lacking or missing.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of supplemental
First recorded in 1595–1605; supplement + -al 1
Explanation
You can use the adjective supplemental to describe something extra. You could volunteer to donate your collection of markers and colored pencils to a local school that needs supplemental art supplies. Something that's supplemental is added when there's a lack or deficiency. You might feed the runt from a litter of puppies supplemental milk because he can't get enough from his mother. Teachers are famous for assigning supplemental reading to round out the information in a textbook. Supplemental comes from the Latin supplementum, "added to supply a deficiency."
Vocabulary lists containing supplemental
Mexican WhiteBoy
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Absolutely Almost
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Keeping Pace
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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.
After her daughter’s public-school experience, Ms. Hannah-Jones might agree that supplemental educational services would be useful to many public-school students.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Jain described the supplemental policies and Medicare managed products as being “designed around Costco.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Mr. Burger’s writings on “attribution science,” a theory central to those cases, are cited as neutral scientific authority throughout CJP’s modules and have been assigned as supplemental reading to judges attending its trainings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
"And Pg and Fn infections worsen survival rates of untreated recurrent or metastatic oral cancer, even after surgery and risk-adjusted adjuvant, or supplemental, therapies."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
The top level or “roof” of the stacks was blanketed with a patchwork array of old solar panels that provided supplemental power to the units below.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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.
