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Glite Dictionary
🛸 Large carrier ship 🏢 Main organization
mothership

mothership

5 5.0
A large company or main office that supports smaller branches
  • noun
  • /ˈmʌðərˌʃɪp/
translation icon : empresa matriz
  • The film studio's mothership oversees all creative decisions for its various production branches.

Now social media is the mothership of narcissistic supply.

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Examples

  • AIG Financial Products was registered as a French bank with a branch in London with a guarantee from its mothership back here.

  • In a way, the innovative companies they germinate benefit from the mothership yet shape up as distinct independent innovative companies.

    Blog text (31)

  • We have medical machines on the mothership that can fix you.

    District 9 (2009)

  • Now let's get on to the big beast, the mothership of social media channels.

  • It also made it easier for people from satellite offices to come to the mothership.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Each PDA, whether in an office or with a doctor, beams its information to the senior member's PDA, which is labeled the Mothership.

    Academic text (2003)

  • The nonprofit's mothership provides funding and resources to various smaller community projects.

  • After years of expansion, the tech company has transformed its headquarters into a mothership for its global subsidiaries.

Synonyms

baseship
vsmothership
9 8.6

A large ship or spacecraft used as a main base and command center for smaller ships

is the central organization that gives direction and resources rather than a physical vehicle
mother-hive
vsmothership
9.6

A busy place that helps people and ideas grow

is the central organization that gives direction and resources to smaller groups
mother-hive of artisans
vsmothership
9.9

A place where many skilled craft workers learn and make things

is the central organization that gives direction and resources to smaller groups

Antonyms

subsidiary
  • Specialized
64 5.9

A company controlled by another company, often owned by a larger firm

How Central

mothership
5 5.0
headquarters
407 3.0
hub
75 3.7
base
∞ 2.2
branch
431 1.3

Surface Forms

mothership singular
motherships plural

Morphology

mothership = mother + ship (semi-transparent) = mother + ship

The word is a clear compound, but the organizational meaning is metaphorical rather than a literal ship owned by a mother.

Etymology

Mothership comes from the simple words mother and ship. Think of a mother who gives 'care' and a ship that 'carries' others: a 'mothership' is the main organization that supports smaller branches, so the name shows it 'looks after' and helps them.