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Tributary vs Subsidiary - What's the difference?

tributary | subsidiary |

As nouns the difference between tributary and subsidiary

is that tributary is (river) A natural water stream that flows into a larger river or other body of water while subsidiary is a company owned by a parent company or a holding company, also called daughter company or sister company.

As adjectives the difference between tributary and subsidiary

is that tributary is related to the paying of tribute while subsidiary is auxiliary or supplemental.

tributary

Noun

(tributaries)
  • (senseid) A natural water stream that flows into a larger river or other body of water.
  • A nation, state, or other entity that pays tribute.
  • Quotations

    ; nation paying tribute * 1602 : , act V scene 2 *: As England was his faithful tributary .

    Synonyms

    *(stream which flows into a larger one) affluent

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Related to the paying of tribute.
  • subordinate; inferior
  • * Milton
  • to grace his tributary gods
  • Yielding supplies of any kind; serving to form or make up, a greater object of the same kind, as a part, branch, etc.; contributing.
  • The Ohio has many tributary''' streams, and is itself '''tributary to the Mississippi.

    subsidiary

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Auxiliary or supplemental.
  • * (John Florio) (1553-1625)
  • chief ruler and principal head everywhere, not suffragant and subsidiary
  • * (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) (1772-1834)
  • They constituted a useful subsidiary testimony of another state of existence.
  • Secondary or subordinate.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
  • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=5 , passage=By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.}}
  • Of, or relating to a subsidy.
  • * (1805-1875)
  • George the Second relied on his subsidiary treaties.

    Noun

    (subsidiaries)
  • A company owned by a parent company or a holding company, also called daughter company or sister company.
  • (music) a subordinate theme