Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - subsidiary

(subsidiaries) 1. A subsidiary or a subsidiary company is a company which is part of a larger and more important company. (BUSINESS) ...British Asia Airways, a subsidiary of British Airways. N-COUNT: oft N of n, N n 2. If something is subsidiary, it is less important than something else with which it is connected. The economics ministry has increasingly played a subsidiary role to the finance ministry. = secondary ADJ