# auxiliary

Pronunciation: say "awg-ZIL-yuh-ree" US /ɔɡˈzɪl.(jə).ɹi/, UK /ɔːɡˈzɪl.(j)ə.ɹi/

## Adjective

1. Providing help, assistance, or support to someone or something else.
   - Simple: Giving help or support to someone or something.
   - _The general called up auxiliary troops to reinforce the front line._
   - _Auxiliary staff handle check-in so the nurses can focus on their patients._
2. Added as a supplement to something, or secondary to something more important.
   - Simple: Added to the main thing, but less important than it.
   - _The university opened an auxiliary campus to handle its growing enrollment._
   - _The report comes with auxiliary tables for readers who want the raw figures._
4. Kept in reserve and brought into use only in exceptional circumstances.
   - Simple: Kept ready to use only when something unusual happens.
   - _An auxiliary power unit keeps the lights on if the main supply fails._
   - _The city maintains an auxiliary reservoir for droughts and other emergencies._
6. Relating to an auxiliary verb, the kind of verb that works alongside a main verb.
   - Simple: Having to do with a helping verb that goes with the main verb.
   - _In "She has left," the verb has plays an auxiliary role._
   - _The grammar course spends a full week on the auxiliary uses of do._
8. Of a ship, fitted with an engine as well as sails.
   - Simple: Describes a ship that has sails and an engine too.
   - _They chartered an auxiliary ketch that could motor through calm stretches._
   - _The auxiliary cutter ran its engine through the narrow channel, then raised its sails._

## Noun

3. A person or group that serves in a helping or supporting role.
   - Simple: A person or group that helps or supports others.
   - _The hospital auxiliary raised money for a new children's ward._
   - _Police auxiliaries directed traffic along the marathon route._
5. Short for auxiliary verb. — Ellipsis of auxiliary verb.
   - Simple: Short for auxiliary verb. It means a helping verb, like have or be, that goes with a main verb.
   - _To form a question, English moves the auxiliary to the front: Has she left?_
   - _Some learners drop the auxiliary and say "She going" instead of "She is going."_
7. A sailing vessel that is also fitted with an engine.
   - Simple: A ship or boat with sails that also has an engine.
   - _The old schooner was refitted as an auxiliary, with a diesel engine below deck._
   - _When the wind died, the auxiliary motored the last few miles into port._
9. The color guard of a marching band, the members who perform alongside the musicians without playing instruments.
   - Simple: The color guard of a marching band, the group that performs but does not play music.
   - _The auxiliary spun their flags in time with the drums during the halftime show._
   - _She played clarinet for two years before joining the band's auxiliary._

## Origin

From Latin auxiliārius ("assistant, ally"), equivalent to auxiliāris ("helping, aiding"), from auxilium ("help, aid"), from augēre ("to increase").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/auxiliary (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).