ancillary

comparative more ancillary · superlative most ancillary

1. Subordinate; secondary; auxiliary.

   The cafeteria is primarily used by students and staff (academic, administrative, and ancillary).

   2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 4

   3 more examples

   […] how easily he took all things along with him,—the persons, the opinions, and the day, and nature became ancillary to a man.

   1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, Chapter 3

   [E]very organ of the body, whatever function it may perform, must also perform the other four functions in an ancillary manner.

   1898, John Wesley Powell, “Chapter 7”, in Truth and Error

   The same doctrinaire belief, inherited from Marxist tradition, in the ancillary function of culture and its absolute dependence on technology led Bogdanov to the theory of 'proletarian culture' (Proletkult) and the belief that it was the proletariat's mission to effect a clean break in cultural history.

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 443

   Synonyms: accessory

plural ancillaries

1. Something that serves an ancillary function, such as an easel for a painter.

   Auxiliaries and ancillaries are comprehensive, and include a Westinghouse motor-driven recriprocating compressor used for locomotive braking and general service air, two rotary exhauster sets for train brakes when hauling passenger or fitted freight trains, and an oil-fired train heating boiler.

   1950 November, “Mixed-Traffic Diesel-Electric Locomotives for Ireland”, in Railway Magazine, page 781

2. archaicAn auxiliary.