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View synonyms for tributary

tributary

[ trib-yuh-ter-ee ]

noun

, plural trib·u·tar·ies.
  1. a stream that flows to a larger stream or other body of water.
  2. a person or nation that pays tribute in acknowledgment of subjugation or the like.


adjective

  1. (of a stream) flowing into a larger stream or other body of water.
  2. furnishing subsidiary aid; contributory.
  3. paying or required to pay tribute.
  4. paid as tribute.
  5. subject; subordinate:

    a tributary nation.

tributary

/ ˈtrɪbjʊtərɪ; -trɪ /

noun

  1. a stream, river, or glacier that feeds another larger one
  2. a person, nation, or people that pays tribute


adjective

  1. (of a stream, etc) feeding a larger stream
  2. given or owed as a tribute
  3. paying tribute

tributary

/ trĭbyə-tĕr′ē /

  1. A stream that flows into a river, a larger stream, or a lake.


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Derived Forms

  • ˈtributarily, adverb

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Other Words From

  • tribu·tari·ly adverb
  • non·tribu·tary adjective
  • un·tribu·tari·ly adverb
  • un·tribu·tary adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of tributary1

1325–75; Middle English (adj. and noun) < Latin tribūtārius of tribute, one who pays tribute. See tribute, -ary

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Example Sentences

That figure suggests how much rain may have fallen elsewhere over the 11,560 square miles of field and forest and city and town that drain into the tributaries that empty into the Potomac before it arrives at Little Falls.

Twomey says that dyslexic readers, in their struggle to learn to read, are calling on more of the tributaries in the brain to overcome their difficulties of whichever script they are being taught.

As we learn more about the mysterious tributaries activated in reading, perhaps there are more teaching strategies to be discovered, helping those who do not find it a natural activity, or for those around the world who miss out on early education.

A four-acre sinkhole there had opened at the plant’s coal ash pond years earlier, releasing over 2 million gallons of arsenic-laced ash and water into a tributary of the Etowah River.

From Rig to Flip and American Rivers, Rio Rica introduces us to Rica Fulton and the Little Snake River, a lesser known tributary of the West’s renowned Yampa River.

The first pioneer to reach the riparian tributary where Kansas City now shimmers was, in fact, on the lam himself.

The village sits along a narrowing vein of the Rio Negro, a tributary of the mighty Amazon.

But I had to find my way into another passion, and with the art, it was a river flowing into a tributary.

Those in the middle have arisen from the union of the moraines formed in two or more tributary valleys.

From there we proceeded up the Gury, a large tributary stream flowing into the Ganges below Rumpurbolea.

He gestured with his arm to the valley below where a cool stream of water dashed over rocks on its way to join a bigger tributary.

At various points tributary gorges, the graves of fluvial gods who had perished long ago, opened into the main cañon.

This fish (but seldom taken any great weight) abounds in the Tees and its tributary streams.

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