Word · Frequency #14971
tributary
支流的；贡献的
核心释义
常用于河流，指注入更大的河流；也泛指起促成作用。
Serving to form or make up a larger object; contributing; especially (of a stream) flowing into a larger river.
- 1.
Related to the paying of tribute.
- 2.
Subordinate; inferior.
- 3.
Yielding supplies of any kind; serving to form or make up, a greater object of the same kind, as a part, branch, etc.; contributing.
进贡的；纳贡的；从属的；下级的；支流的；纳贡的；从属的
用法In use
The hikers stopped beside a small tributary stream that ran down from the mountain pass.
用法提示：tributary 作形容词，放在名词 stream 前，表示‘支流的’，修饰这条汇入主河的小溪。
This creek is tributary to the nearby lake and provides it with fresh water.
用法提示：tributary 作表语，后接介词 to，表示‘流入、汇入’，整体说明小溪是湖泊的水源。
Several tributary channels divide the flow before it reaches the main river.
用法提示：tributary 作定语修饰 channels，表示‘支流的’，指这些水道是主河道的分支。
tributary [noun]
用于名词前，多表示向强国进贡的国家或民族等。
The kingdom was a tributary state of the Roman Empire.
这个王国曾是罗马帝国的纳贡国。
be tributary to [noun]
常用于地理语境，表示河流等汇入更大的河流；也可引申为从属、依赖。
相关词与表达Connections
搭配Collocations
- tributary river
- 支流
- The Ohio River is a tributary river of the Mississippi.俄亥俄河是密西西比河的支流。
- tributary glacier
- 支冰川
- Tributary glaciers flow into the main glacier from the surrounding peaks.支冰川从周围的山峰流入主冰川。
- tributary state
- 朝贡国
- The kingdom was a tributary state of the neighboring empire.这个王国是邻国的朝贡国。
- tributary status
- 朝贡地位
- The island nation gradually fell into tributary status under the Sui dynasty.这个岛国在隋朝逐渐沦为朝贡国。
学习提示Learner notes
记忆技巧Memory Tip
联想 tribute（贡品）+ -ary：支流像向大河“进贡”水流，所以 tributary 有“进贡的、支流的、从属的”等义。
语境与语域Context & Register
语域：formal 常见场景：geography、history/politics、formal writing 作形容词时，tributary 多用于较正式或技术性的书面语境，如地理（支流的）和历史/政治（进贡的）；日常口语中很少出现。具体含义需根据搭配判断。
发音与拼写Pronunciation & Spelling
These six words share the spelling ending -ary, but none rhymes exactly with tributary /ˈtribjutəri/: ordinary /ˈɔːrdəneri/, secondary /ˈsekənderi/, necessary /ˈnesəseri/, library /ˈlaɪbreri/, salary /ˈsæləri/, and boundary /ˈbaʊndəri/ all differ in their stressed vowel or the following consonants. Use -ary only as a visual spelling cue, not a reliable pronunciation cue.
一起学习词形Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY, WORDNET.