English Explanatory Dictionary

secondary

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  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.
  3. Derived from a parent compound by replacement of two atoms of hydrogen by organic radicals.
  4. Produced by alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rock mass.
  5. Developed by pressure or other causes.
  6. Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird.
  7. Dependent or consequent upon another disease, or occurring in the second stage of a disease.
  8. Of less than primary importance.
  9. Related to secondary education, i.e. schooling between the ages of (approximately) 11 and 18.
  10. Relating to the manufacture of goods from raw materials.
  11. Formed by mixing primary colors.
  12. Representing a reversion to an ancestral state.
noun
  1. Any flight feather attached to the ulna (forearm) of a bird.
  2. 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. 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. An act of issuing more stock by an already publicly traded corporation.
  5. The defensive backs.
  6. 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.
  8. A secondary circle.
  9. A satellite.
  10. A secondary school.
  11. Ellipsis of secondary colour.
  12. Anything secondary or of lesser importance.

Pronunciation

/ˈsɛkənd(ə)ɹɪ/ /ˈsɛkənˌdɛɹi/ en-us-secondary.ogg

Word forms

secondary more secondary most secondary secondaries

Etymology

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), equivalent to second + -ary; compare the French secondaire, the Italian secondario, the Occitan secundari, the Portuguese secundario, and the Spanish secundario.

Synonyms

associate

Antonyms

idiopathic

Derived words

circumsecondary intersecondary nonsecondary postsecondary presecondary Seconal secondarily secondariness secondary alcohol secondary amine secondary cell secondary cell wall secondary circle secondary color secondary colour secondary diagonal secondary dominant secondary drowning secondary education secondary emission secondary energy secondary explosive secondary fermentation secondary fire secondary hypothermia secondary immunodeficiency secondary industry secondary infection secondary intention secondary ion mass spectrometry secondary liability secondary market secondary phosphine secondary planet secondary radar secondary research secondary root secondary sanction secondary school secondary sector secondary sex characteristic secondary smoking secondary source secondary stress secondary structure secondary surveillance radar secondary tech secondary technical school secondary valence secondary vaping secondary victimisation secondary victimization secondary virginity secondary work secondary world semisecondary supersecondary

Translations

Bulgarian: помощен Dutch: plaatsvervangend Polish: pomocniczy Spanish: suplente
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