subsidiary

[suhb-sid-ee-er-ee]

adjective

1. serving to assist or supplement; auxiliary; supplementary.

2. subordinate or secondary.

   subsidiary issues.

3. of or relating to a subsidiary.

noun

plural

subsidiaries 

1. a subsidiary thing or person.

2. subsidiary company.

3. Music.,  a subordinate theme or subject.

subsidiary

/ səbˈsɪdɪərɪ /

adjective

1. serving to aid or supplement; auxiliary

2. of lesser importance; subordinate in function

noun

1. a person who or thing that is subsidiary

2. short for subsidiary company

Other Word Forms

• subsidiarily adverb
• subsidiariness noun
• nonsubsidiary adjective
• unsubsidiary adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of subsidiary¹

1535–45; < Latin subsidiārius, equivalent to subsidi ( um ) ( subsidy ) + -ārius -ary

Word History and Origins

Origin of subsidiary¹

C16: from Latin subsidiārius supporting, from subsidium _subsidy

Example Sentences

“Their subsidiaries — some 36 of them — have been placed under financial quarantine. For markets, this isn’t bureaucracy; it’s shock therapy.”

Read more on MarketWatch

That will change when it owns all of the subsidiary.

Read more on Barron's

In August, NioCorp subsidiary Elk Creek Resources Corp. was awarded a $10 million grant from the Pentagon to help establish what the company describes as the first domestic scandium mine-to-master alloy supply chain.

Read more on MarketWatch

STOCKHOLM—Verisure reported a cyber incident to police after it discovered a data breach at a subsidiary, just over a week after the Swedish security-services provider debuted on the Stockholm stock exchange.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

At the time, RDB’s founder and then-chairman had been barred by India’s securities regulator from engaging in the stock market for four years for misleading investors in a listing of a subsidiary.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• ancillary 
• supplementary