Auxiliary
adj, noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A person or group that acts in an auxiliary manner.
"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."
- 2 someone who acts as assistant wordnet
- 3 A sailing vessel equipped with an engine.
- 4 Ellipsis of auxiliary verb. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
"The three traditionally recognized Non-modal Auxiliaries are the per- fective Auxiliary have, the progressive Auxiliary be, and the passive Auxiliary be. Perfective have is so-called because it marks the completion (hence, perfec- tion) of an action; it is followed by a VP headed by a perfective -n participle, as in: (121) The referee has [_(VP) shown him the red card]"
- 5 A marching band color guard.
- 1 Helping; giving assistance or support. not-comparable
"auxiliary troops"
- 2 Supplementary or subsidiary. not-comparable
- 3 Held in reserve for exceptional circumstances. not-comparable
- 4 Of a ship, having both sails and an engine. not-comparable
- 5 Relating to an auxiliary verb. not-comparable
- 1 functioning in a supporting capacity wordnet
- 2 furnishing added support wordnet
Example
More examples"This sentence is in the present perfect. 'have' is not a verb, but an auxiliary verb."
Etymology
From Latin auxiliārius (“assistant, ally”), equiv. to auxiliāris (“helping, aiding”), from auxilium (“help, aid”), from augēre (“to increase”).