a river or stream that flows into a larger river or a lakeWordfinderriverbend,course,current,dam,downstream,estuary,river,source,tributary,waterfallOxford Collocations Dictionaryadjectivemain,majortributary + verbdrain something,drain into something,feed something,…tributary + nounriver,streamSeefull entrySee related entries:Rivers and lakesWord Originlate Middle English (originally referring to a person or state that pays tribute to another state or ruler): from Latin tributarius, from tributum, neuter past participle (used as a noun) of tribuere ‘assign’ (originally ‘divide between tribes’), from tribus ‘tribe’. The current sense dates from the early 19th cent.Extra examplesThe Thames is fed by several small tributaries.Through northern Sudan and Egypt, the Nile is joined by no tributary, flowing as it does through pure desert.We need to monitor the water quality of the tributaries that feed the lake.
See tributary in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
