Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1600-1700
Language: Latin
Origin: auxiliaris, from auxilium 'help'

auxiliary

1 adjective
     
aux‧il‧ia‧ry1
1 auxiliary workers provide additional help for another group of workers:
an auxiliary nurse
auxiliary staff
2T an auxiliary motor, piece of equipment etc is kept ready to be used if the main one stops working properly:
an auxiliary power supply
auxiliary equipment
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary