corollary

noun cor·ol·lary \ ˈkȯr-ə-ˌler-ē , ˈkär- , -le-rē , British kə-ˈrä-lə-rē \

Updated on: 22 Apr 2018

Definition of corollary

plural corollaries

1 : a proposition (see ¹proposition 1c) inferred immediately from a proved proposition with little or no additional proof

2 a : something that naturally follows : result

… love was a stormy passion and jealousy its normal corollary.
—Ida Treat

b : something that incidentally or naturally accompanies or parallels

A corollary to the problem of the number of vessels to be built was that of the types of vessels to be constructed.
—Daniel Marx

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corollary

adjective

See corollary defined for English-language learners

See corollary defined for kids

Examples of corollary in a Sentence

one corollary of the rise of television was a massive makeover of radio's programming
increased taxes—or expanding deficits—are the inevitable corollary to any new government spending program

Recent Examples of corollary from the Web

Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology, coined the Electra complex to name a girl’s competition with her mother for the attention of her father—the feminine corollary of the Oedipus complex.

— ian bogost, The Atlantic, "Alexa Is a Revelation for the Blind," 15 Apr. 2018
The obvious corollary is that the alien broadcasters may have long since cashed in their chips.

— NBC News, "Space aliens could have died out long ago, scientist says," 11 Apr. 2018
There is also growing evidence of their corollary benefits.

— neil swidey, BostonGlobe.com, "The right way to complain when a business does you wrong," 3 Apr. 2018
The tennis corollary: no one ever went rich underestimating Serena Williams.

— jon wertheim, SI.com, "Mailbag: What Did We Learn From the Start of Serena Williams's Comeback at Indian Wells?," 14 Mar. 2018
In a corollary gesture, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn resigned.

— bill donahue, Bloomberg.com, "China Is Turning Ethiopia Into a Giant Fast-Fashion Factory," 2 Mar. 2018
The political corollary of that gamble is this: In the event of a crisis, Democrats will not be able to point the finger at Republicans and Wall Street greed.

— talmon joseph smith, The New Republic, "How Democrats Are Helping Trump Dismantle Dodd-Frank," 1 Mar. 2018
Employment declines in some red-state industries such as manufacturing and mining, which also create corollary jobs in other industries, tracked with drops in oil prices in 2015 and 2016.

— tory newmyer, Washington Post, "The Finance 202: Here's one unhappy side effect of the Republican tax bill," 1 Feb. 2018
Similarly, the #MeToo movement and its corollaries have unleashed a war of retribution upon a host of powerful men who have gotten away with misconduct for far too long. Framing it as a reckoning makes this moment something more than a backlash.

— william cummings, USA TODAY, "So what is this sexual harassment 'reckoning' everyone is talking about?," 17 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'corollary.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The Origin and Evolution of corollary

Corollary comes from the Late Latin noun corollarium, which can be translated as "a garland given as a reward." "Corollarium" comes from the Latin corolla, meaning "small crown or garland." If you know that a garland or small crown was sometimes given to actors in addition to their pay, it makes sense that another sense of "corollarium" is "gratuity." Later, "corollarium" developed the philosophical sense of a supplementary proposition that follows directly from one that has been proved. (You can think of a corollary as a "bonus" that follows from the proof of something else.) The broader modern sense, "something that naturally follows," evolved from the philosophical one.