secondary

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English[edit]

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English numbers (edit)
 ←  1 2 3  → 
    Cardinal: two
    Ordinal: second
    Latinate ordinal: secondary
    Reverse order ordinal: second to last, second from last, last but one
    Latinate reverse order ordinal: penultimate
    Adverbial: two times, twice
    Multiplier: twofold
    Latinate multiplier: double
    Distributive: doubly
    Group collective: both, pair, twosome
    Multipart collective: doublet, couple, couplet
    Greek or Latinate collective: dyad
    Metric collective prefix: double-
    Greek collective prefix: di-, duo-
    Latinate collective prefix: bi-
    Fractional: half
    Metric fractional prefix: demi-
    Latinate fractional prefix: semi-
    Greek fractional prefix: hemi-
    Elemental: twin, doublet
    Greek prefix: deutero-
    Number of musicians: duo, duet, duplet
    Number of years: biennium

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English secundarie, from Latin secundārius (of the second class or quality), from secundus (whence the English second) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary); compare the French secondaire, the Italian secondario, the Occitan secundari, the Portuguese secundario, and the Spanish secundario.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈsɛkənd(ə)ɹɪ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈsɛkənˌdɛɹi/
  • (file)

Adjective[edit]

Latinate ordinals
Previous: primary
Next: tertiary

secondary (not generally comparable, comparative more secondary, superlative most secondary)

  1. Next in order to the first or primary; of second place in origin, rank, etc.
  2. Originating from a deputy or delegated person or body.
    the work of secondary hands
  3. (organic chemistry) Derived from a parent compound by replacement of two atoms of hydrogen by organic radicals.
  4. (geology) Produced by alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rock mass.
  5. (geology) Developed by pressure or other causes.
    secondary cleavage
  6. (anatomy) Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird.
  7. (medicine) Dependent or consequent upon another disease, or occurring in the second stage of a disease.
    Bright's disease is often secondary to scarlet fever.
    the secondary symptoms of syphilis
    Antonym: idiopathic
  8. Of less than primary importance.
    a secondary issue
    • 1992, Deborah Bernstein, Pioneers and Homemakers: Jewish Women in Pre-state Israel, page 227:
      the problem of sexual equality became even more secondary than before in the eyes of the kibbutz and of its women members.
  9. (education) Related to secondary education, i.e. schooling between the ages of (approximately) 11 and 18.
  10. (manufacturing) Relating to the manufacture of goods from raw materials.
  11. (of a color) Formed by mixing primary colors.
    Yellow is a secondary light color, though a primary CMYK color.
  12. (taxonomy, not comparable) Representing a reversion to an ancestral state.
    • 2016 May 27, Wayne M. Matthis, Luciane Marinoni, “Revision of Ephydrini Zetterstedt (Diptera: Ephydridae) from the Americas south of the United States”, in Zootaxa, volume 4116, number 1, →DOI:
      With the exception of a secondary loss in Dimecoenia, larvae of Ephydrini have prominent, ventral prolegs that bear crochets.

Coordinate terms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from secondary (adjective)

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

secondary (plural secondaries)

  1. (ornithology) Any flight feather attached to the ulna (forearm) of a bird.
  2. (aviation) A radar return generated by the response of an aircraft's transponder to an interrogation signal broadcast by a radar installation, containing additional encoded identification and situational data not available from a simple primary return.
  3. (military) The second stage of a multistage thermonuclear weapon, which generates a fusion explosion when imploded as an indirect result of the fission explosion of the primary, and which, in a few extremely large weapons, itself implodes a fusion tertiary.
  4. (finance) An act of issuing more stock by an already publicly traded corporation.
  5. (American football, Canadian football) The defensive backs.
  6. (electronics) An inductive coil or loop that is magnetically powered by a primary in a transformer or similar.
  7. One who occupies a subordinate or auxiliary place; a delegate deputy.
    the secondary, or undersheriff, of the city of London
  8. (astronomy) A secondary circle.
  9. (astronomy) A satellite.
  10. (education) A secondary school.
    There are four secondaries in this district, each with several thousand pupils.
  11. Short for secondary colour.
  12. Anything secondary or of lesser importance.

Translations[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Adjective[edit]

secondary

  1. Alternative form of secundarie

Noun[edit]

secondary

  1. Alternative form of secundarie