tributary

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

• This stream is a tributary.
• Several tributaries join the river near the town.
• We followed a tributary of the Amazon.

How to use it: tributary of something (The stream is a tributary of the main river.)

Similar words: feeder stream

Common phrases: major tributary, tributary of something, small tributary

A country or group that regularly pays a more powerful country, often for protection.

• The kingdom became a tributary.
• The emperor demanded payments from his tributaries.
• This small state was a tributary of the empire.

How to use it: tributary of something (The kingdom was a tributary of the northern empire.)

Similar words: tributary state

Common phrases: imperial tributary, tributary of something, loyal tributary

A smaller vein that carries blood into a larger vein.

• This vein has several tributaries.
• Blood enters the larger vein through a tributary.
• The surgeon identified a tributary of the femoral vein.

How to use it: tributary of something (This vessel is a tributary of a larger vein.)

Common phrases: venous tributary, tributary of something, small tributary

Supplying or contributing to something larger, as a smaller part of it.

• Small tributary streams feed the lake.
• This river is tributary to a larger one.
• The historian traced the tributary sources of the movement.

How to use it: tributary to something (These streams are tributary to the main river.)

Similar words: contributing, feeding

Common phrases: tributary stream, tributary to something, tributary sources