Meaning & use
feeder system
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Meanings
nouncountable
An organized network of smaller clubs, schools or programs that develop people and pass the best of them upward to a larger, more important one.
Grammar: Has a plural: feeder systems. Often followed by for or into.
Patterns
- a feeder system for something
- a feeder system into something
The baseball club built a feeder system of small-town teams across three states.
Many universities rely on a feeder system of partner high schools.
A strong youth feeder system keeps a football academy supplied with talent.
nouncountabletechnical
A set of smaller routes, pipes or lines that carry traffic or material into a main route.
Grammar: Used in transport and engineering, usually with a main line as the destination.
Patterns
- a feeder system for the main line
Local bus lines act as a feeder system for the city's main rail line.
The irrigation district uses a feeder system of small canals that empty into the main channel.
Word forms
| plural | feeder systems |
|---|
Common combinations
- a youth feeder system
- The club's youth feeder system produced six first-team players this year.
- build a feeder system
- The league wants to build a feeder system in the lower divisions.
- part of the feeder system
- The junior college is part of the feeder system for the state university.
- a feeder system for
- The farm teams are a feeder system for the major league.
- rely on a feeder system
- Big firms rely on a feeder system of graduate programs to find recruits.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pipeline
- Pipeline is broader and can describe any flow of talent or ideas, while feeder system suggests actual linked institutions.
- farm system
- This is the American baseball term and is narrower, since it refers only to a club's own minor-league teams.
- pathway
- A pathway describes the route an individual takes, whereas a feeder system describes the organization that supplies many people.
Word family
- feeder noun
- something that supplies a larger thing
- feed verb
- to supply something to a person or machine
- feeder school noun
- a school whose students move on to a particular larger school
- feeder road noun
- a smaller road leading to a main road
Commonly confused: feeder system or feeding system?
feeder system vs feeding system
A feeding system delivers food, for example to animals or patients, while a feeder system supplies people or traffic to a bigger body.
Practice
The national soccer federation created a ____ of regional academies to supply players to the top clubs.
Choose one answer.
A feeder system is a network of smaller programs that pass talent upward. A filter system would suggest removing things, not supplying the top clubs.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “feeder system”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.