secondary
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˈsɛkənd(ə)ɹɪ/
  • (America) IPA: /ˈsɛkənˌdɛɹi/
Adjective

secondary (not comparable)

  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
  8. Of less than primary importance.
    a secondary issue
  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.
Translations Translations
  • Spanish: suplente
Noun

secondary (plural secondaries)

  1. (ornithology) Any flight feather attached to the ulna (forearm) of a bird.
  2. (finance) An act of issuing more stock by an already publicly traded corporation.
  3. (American football, Canadian football) The defensive backs.
  4. (electronics) An inductive coil or loop that is magnetically powered by a primary in a transformer or similar
  5. One who occupies a subordinate or auxiliary place; a delegate deputy.
    the secondary, or undersheriff, of the city of London
    • c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, “Measvre for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene i]:
      Old Escalus […] is thy secondary.
  6. (astronomy) A secondary circle.
  7. (astronomy) A satellite.
  8. (education) A secondary school.
    There are four secondaries in this district, each with several thousand pupils.
  9. Anything secondary or of lesser importance.
Translations
  • German: Armschwinge



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