subsidy
nounMonetary assistance granted by a government to a person or group in support of an enterprise regarded as being in the public interest.
nounFinancial assistance given by one person or government to another.
nounMoney formerly granted to the British Crown by Parliament.
nounAn aid in money; pecuniary aid.
nounEspecially— In English history, an aid or tax formerly granted by Parliament to the crown for the urgent occasions of the realm, and levied on every subject of ability according to the value of his lands or goods; a tax levied on a particular occasion.
nounA sum paid, often according to treaty, by one government to another, sometimes to secure its neutrality, but more frequently to meet the expenses of carrying on a war.
nounAny direct pecuniary aid furnished by the state to private industrial undertakings, or to eleemosynary institutions. Such aid includes bounties on exports, those paid to the owners of ships for running them, and donations of land or money to railroad, manufacturing, theatrical, and other enterprises.
nounSynonyms Subsidy, Subvention. In the original and essential meaning of a government grant in aid of a commercial enterprise, these termsare substantially equivalent; but two circumstances lead to some difference in common usage.
nounSuch grants being rarely, if ever, made in England or the United States except in aid of the mercantile marine, the establishment of lines of transportation, or the like, subsidy is used more commonly than subvention in reference to such enterprises, while, such grants being frequent in France in aid of the drama and the press, etc., the word subvention is used more commonly than subsidy in application to enterprises connected with literature and the arts.
nounWriters who oppose all such uses of public funds commonly prefer to characterize them as subsidies, while those who approve of them commonly prefer the term subvention.