subcontract
/'sʌb'kɔntrækt/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun:
- A secondary contract: A "subcontract" is a legal agreement in which one party (the subcontractor) agrees to perform some or all of the obligations of another party's (the contractor's) primary contract with a client.
Verb:
- To hire another party to do work under a primary contract: To "subcontract" means to assign part of the work from a main contract to another company or individual.
- To work as a subcontractor: To "subcontract" also means to undertake work under the terms of a subcontract.
Usage and Examples
Noun:
- The general contractor awarded the electrical work to a subcontract. (The electrical portion of the job was given to another company via a separate agreement.)
- Our firm is named in the subcontract for plumbing services. (Our company is officially listed as the provider in the secondary contract.)
Verb (transitive - to hire another):
- The construction company will subcontract the roofing to a specialized firm. (The main company will hire a different company to do the roofing work.)
- We decided to subcontract the software development to reduce costs. (We chose to have an external party handle the coding part of our project.)
Verb (intransitive - to work as a subcontractor):
- Many small businesses subcontract for larger corporations. (Many small companies perform work under agreements with bigger primary contractors.)
Advanced Usage
- "To subcontract out": This phrasal verb emphasizes the act of delegating work externally.
- The manufacturer subcontracts out all its packaging operations. (The company hires other firms to handle its packaging.)
Variants and Related Words
Subcontractor (n): The person or company that performs work under a subcontract.
- The subcontractor completed the foundation work on schedule.
Subcontracted (adj): Describes work that has been assigned via a subcontract.
- All subcontracted labor must meet our safety standards.
Synonyms
- Farm out (verb, phrasal): To send work to be done by another.
- Outsource (verb): To obtain goods or services from an outside supplier.
- Secondary contract (noun): A formal synonym for the noun form.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Subcontract out: To delegate specific tasks or portions of a contract to another party.
- They had to subcontract out the design phase due to a lack of in-house expertise.
Related Idioms
- : This describes a company whose primary model is to work as a subcontractor for others.
- They don't seek direct clients; they're in the subcontracting business.
Noun
- a contract assigning to another party some obligations of a prior contract
Verb
- work under a subcontract; engage in a subcontract
- arranged for contracted work to be done by others