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

Derived Forms

• ˈadjunctly, adverb
• adjunctive, adjective

Other Words From

• ad·junctly adverb

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

Remember that about 70% of college instructors are adjunct professors who have few job protections.

From Los Angeles Times

“Those early kind of signals can be helpful for understanding the progression of the fungus, of where it’s getting to,” said Winifred Frick, chief scientist at Bat Conservation International and an adjunct professor in ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz.

From Los Angeles Times

An unprecedented amount of money — with some projections as high as $17 billion — is being spent on political advertising nationwide in this election cycle, said Steve Caplan, an adjunct instructor of public relations and advertising at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

From Los Angeles Times

Mead Valley, a majority Latino community of about 20,500 people, already has 2,000 square feet of warehouses per person, including existing and approved warehouses and those under environmental review, according to a data analysis by Susan Phillips, director of the Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability at Pitzer College, and Mike McCarthy, an adjunct professor and data scientist at the college.

From Los Angeles Times

Gerald Cook, an adjunct professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, is a former commercial pilot and flight operations manager who flew for Spirit from 1999 to 2010.

From Slate