subsidy

From Middle English subsidy, subsidie, from Anglo-Norman subsidee, subsidie, from Old French subside, from Latin subsidium (support, assistance), from subsido from sub- (“below”) +‎ sīdō (“sit”).

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌbsɪdi/

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subsidy (countable and uncountable, plural subsidies)

1. Financial support or assistance, such as a grant.

   Manufacturing firms are supported by government subsidies in some countries.

   • 2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.

   • 2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 22:

     You don't have to be Einstein to work out that this level of government subsidy is unsustainable.

2. (dated) Money granted by parliament to the British Crown.

• tax

• cross-subsidy
• export subsidy
• spare room subsidy
• subsidy publisher