tributary

noun trib·u·tary \ ˈtri-byə-ˌter-ē \

|Updated on: 15 Aug 2018

Examples: tributary in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of tributary

plural tributaries

1 : a stream feeding a larger stream or a lake

2 : a ruler or state that pays tribute to a conqueror

See tributary defined for English-language learners

Examples of tributary in a Sentence

one of the river's tributaries
This stream is a tributary of the Ohio River.

Recent Examples of tributary from the Web

Floods are nothing new in Ellicott City, located where two tributaries join the Patapsco River.

— bill gourgey, WIRED, "How Artificial Intelligence Could Prevent Natural Disasters," 10 July 2018
Like the tributaries of the Severn, our different pasts meet in a shared present.

— simon perry, PEOPLE.com, "Prince Charles Just Had Something Special Named in His Honor (in Addition to Baby Louis, of Course!)," 2 July 2018
On the Deshka River, a tributary of the Susitna, about 4,200 kings made it past a weir as of Thursday morning.

— zaz hollander, Anchorage Daily News, "From bad to worse: State announces more king salmon fishing shutdowns for Susitna Valley," 22 June 2018
The problem isn't just along the Ohio River; Saturday's storms caused some of its tributaries to spill over their banks and brought about flash flooding in low-lying areas.

— thomas novelly, The Courier-Journal, "As the Ohio River recedes, more rain is coming as region faces 'tremendous cleanup'," 26 Feb. 2018
Others call for multiple shorter barriers — from Staten Island to Brooklyn and at various other locations blocking tributaries.

— Fox News, "Army Corps sets meetings to outline New York flood proposals," 6 July 2018
Vernal pools dot the property and Plane Brook, a tributary of the Menunketesuck River, runs through the woods with the trails crossing the energetic stream multiple times.

— peter marteka, courant.com, "A Visit To Westbrook's Horse Hill Woods," 17 June 2018
Rent a bicycle and enjoy miles of cycling trails through scenic villages and marshland, explore local tributaries via kayak, canoe or paddleboard or go crabbing in the bay.

— laura kiniry, Smithsonian, "The 20 Best Small Towns To Visit in 2018," 5 June 2018
Piot and his colleagues called this new form of hemorrhagic fever Ebola virus disease, after the nearby Ebola River, a tributary of the Congo River.

— david mckenzie, CNN, "Fear and failure: How Ebola sparked a global health revolution," 26 May 2018

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

Did You Know?

A tributary was originally a person or state that owed tribute to a more powerful person or state. Ancient China, for instance, had dozens of tributary states, and the emperor would receive elephants from Siam or young girls from Korea as tribute. Just as a smaller power gave some of its wealth to a larger power, a small river contributes its waters to a larger one. A tributary can be a tiny stream, but some are immense rivers. The Missouri River, for example, could be called a tributary to the Mississippi, even though it's about 2,500 miles long and receives hundreds of tributaries itself.

First Known Use of tributary

14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 2

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

tributary Synonyms

tributary

adjective

Definition of tributary

1 : paying tribute to another to acknowledge submission, to obtain protection, or to purchase peace : subject

2 : paid or owed as tribute

tributary gifts

3 : channeling material or supplies into something more inclusive : contributory

See tributary defined for kids

Recent Examples of tributary from the Web

Each tributary canyon is unique, with dramatic shapes, and vivid colors.

— jill k. robinson, San Francisco Chronicle, "Top 10 California parks: Little known wonders," 9 May 2018
Coastal fall tributary seasons: Will be announced later this spring; however, there will be no wild coho fishing in north coast tributaries this year.

— bill monroe, OregonLive.com, "Salmon seasons set for Oregon Coast, Columbia River," 13 Apr. 2018
The owners of this 10,000-acre property purchased it on an impulse, then built a house situated on the rimrock of a tributary canyon.

— wsj real estate, WSJ, "Going Up? Incline Elevators Help Hillside Homeowners," 10 Aug. 2017
At Lewis Smith, best bet is to look for striped bass making spawning runs up the tributary rivers--the fish migrate from early March to early April before returning to the depths of the lake for the rest of the year.

— frank sargeant, AL.com, "Friday Fishing Report," 15 Mar. 2018
Testing of the tributary waters that feed the lake has been scaled back; a public water quality board folded; a real-time chemical spill monitoring system in the St. Clair River shuttered through neglect and disinterest.

— keith matheny, Detroit Free Press, "Lake St. Clair: Beach closures, 'nasty stuff' in the water, a problem that doesn't get fixed," 29 Sep. 2017
But in China’s case, that pushback comes not just from the West but also from neighbors who remember the tributary system of its imperial past — or are wary of its Communist political system despite its embrace of capitalism decades ago.

— jane perlez, New York Times, "Xi Jinping Pushes China’s Global Rise Despite Friction and Fear," 22 Oct. 2017
At Lewis Smith, stripers continue the gradual move away from the dam and up into the tributary arms, particularly Rock Creek, Brushy Creek and the Sipsey River areas.

— frank sargeant, AL.com, "Friday Fishing Report," 20 Oct. 2017
Testing of the tributary waters that feed the lake has been scaled back

— keith matheny, Detroit Free Press, "Lake St. Clair: Beach closures, 'nasty stuff' in the water, a problem that doesn't get fixed," 29 Sep. 2017