Definition of "ancillary" []

• Of secondary importance: "For Degas, sculpture was never more than ancillary to his painting” ( Herbert Read). (adjective)
• Auxiliary; helping: an ancillary pump. (adjective)
• Something, such as a workbook, that is subordinate to something else, such as a textbook. (noun)
• Archaic A servant. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "US Airways for example is set to earn ancillary revenues of $400 million to $500 million from its ­ancillary revenue programme in 2009."
• "However, we have, in California and other state, what we call ancillary probate."
• "But there's still a lot of what we call ancillary action around."