tributary
pronunciation
How to pronounce tributary in British English:
UK [ˈtrɪbjətri]
How to pronounce tributary in American English:
US [ˈtrɪbjəteri]
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- Noun:
- a branch that flows into the main stream
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- Adjective:
- of a stream; flowing into a larger stream
- paying tribute
- tending to bring about; being partly responsible for
Word Origin
- tributary (adj.)
- late 14c., "paying tribute," from Latin tributarius "liable to tax or tribute," from tributum (see tribute).
- tributary (n.)
- late 14c., "person, country, etc. owing obedience or paying tribute or a tax to a sovereign or another people," from Latin tributarius (see tributary (adj.)). Meaning "stream that flows into a larger body" is from 1822, from the adjective in this sense, which is recorded from 1610s.
Example
- 1. The murrumbidgee is a big tributary of the murray .
- 2. The breakup in early july 2010 occurred on the northern tributary to jakobshavn glacier .
- 3. Five years later , a gold mine in romania leaked cyanide into a danube river tributary .
- 4. One short run to the pier and ten minutes later I was rapidly making my way up a tributary of the mighty river and into the largest lake in s.e. asia , tonle sap .
- 5. Minustah , the un 's peacekeeping force in haiti , is investigating a claim that septic tanks at one of its bases leaked into a tributary of the artibonite .