auxiliary Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun someone who acts as assistant
    aide.
  2. adjective satellite functioning in a supporting capacity
    supplementary; subsidiary; supplemental.
    • the main library and its auxiliary branches
  3. adjective satellite furnishing added support
    accessory; adjunct; adjuvant; ancillary; appurtenant.
    • an ancillary pump
    • an adjuvant discipline to forms of mysticism
    • The mind and emotions are auxiliary to each other

WordNet

Aux*il"ia*ry adjective
Etymology
L. auxiliarius, fr. auxilium help, aid, fr. augere to increase.
Definitions
  1. Conferring aid or help; helping; aiding; assisting; subsidiary; as auxiliary troops.
Aux*il"ia*ry noun
Wordforms
plural Auxiliaries
Definitions
  1. A helper; an assistant; a confederate in some action or enterprise.
  2. (Mil.) pl. Foreign troops in the service of a nation at war; (rarely in sing.), a member of the allied or subsidiary force.
  3. (Gram.) A verb which helps to form the voices, modes, and tenses of other verbs; -- called, also, an auxiliary verb; as, have, be, may, can, do, must, shall, and will, in English; être and avoir, in French; avere and essere, in Italian; estar and haber, in Spanish.
  4. (Math.) A quantity introduced for the purpose of simplifying or facilitating some operation, as in equations or trigonometrical formulæ. Math. Dict.

Webster 1913