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Glite Dictionary
supplementary benefit

supplementary benefit

6.0
A government payment that adds money to a person's income to reach the legal minimum
  • noun
  • /ˌsʌplɪˈmɛntəri ˈbɛnɪfɪt/
  • Archaic
translation icon : prestación suplementaria
  • The government announced an increase in supplementary benefit to help those living below the poverty line.

Examples

  • Many people rely on supplementary benefit to ensure they can afford basic living expenses.

  • The Swedish pension consists of a universal, relatively high fiat benefit, a social insurance scheme (ATP), which provides earnings-related benefits to wage workers, and a supplementary benefit for those with few ATP credits.

    Academic text (1990)

  • After losing her job, she applied for supplementary benefit to make ends meet.

Synonyms

extra money
vssupplementary benefit
68 1.3

Money you earn in addition to your regular pay

is an official benefit paid to meet a legal minimum, not any extra cash
social assistance
vssupplementary benefit
  • Formal
1 3.2

Money the government gives to people or families who have little money

is focused on a single UK payment rather than broader family support
national assistance
vssupplementary benefit
  • UK
3.5

Money the government gives to people so they have enough to live

is the UK single payment that raises a person's income to the legal minimum

Antonyms

reduction
451 3.2

A decrease in size, amount, degree, or price

cutback
52 3.7

A smaller amount of money or resources that an organization uses to lower costs

Surface Forms

supplementary benefit singular
supplemental benefit singular

Morphology

supplementary + benefit

The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'supplementary' = additional/enhancing and 'benefit' = a payment, so together they denote an additional payment to increase income. This is a regular adjective+noun composition and matches common cross-linguistic patterns for 'additional payment,' so a B1 learner who knows both words would likely understand the MWE.

Etymology

The noun supplementary benefit comes from the idea of adding extra money: supplementary means 'added on' and benefit means a payment. Imagine the government putting extra coins on top of a small wage until it reaches the legal 'minimum', so the phrase means a payment that 'tops up' someone's income.