tributary

Questions about tributary

What is another word for tributary?

It depends which tributary you mean. In the sense “tending to bring about; being partly responsible for”, the synonyms are conducive, contributing, contributive, contributory. Across all 4 senses there are 7 distinct synonyms, and they are not interchangeable with each other — this page lists them under the sense each one belongs to.

What is the opposite of tributary?

The recorded antonym is distributary. Opposites are sense-specific too: this page shows which meaning each one is the opposite of, because a word rarely has a single opposite that holds for all of its senses.

Why are the synonyms for tributary split into groups?

Because tributary carries 4 recorded senses and each has its own set of substitutes. A single flat list would put words from unrelated meanings side by side with nothing to tell them apart, which is exactly how a writer picks the wrong one. The grouping comes from WordNet's synsets, not from an editorial judgement of ours.

Does this page cover every sense of tributary?

It covers the 2 senses that carry a synonym, antonym, broader or narrower term. The remaining 2 senses have none recorded, so they are left off a thesaurus page and shown in full on the word page instead.

Where do the synonyms for tributary come from?

From Princeton University's WordNet, a lexical database maintained by lexicographers since 1985. A synonym here means a word form that shares a synset with this word — a set of forms interchangeable in one recorded context. Nothing on this page is generated by a language model.

Other views of tributary

• Full entry for tributaryAll 4 senses, with examples, usage labels, syllables and pronunciation.
• Rhymes for tributaryWords matching from the last stressed vowel onward, grouped by syllable count.
• Thesaurus homeHow WordNet synsets work, and the collections built for synonym work.