From Middle English secundarie, from Latin secundārius, 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.

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

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

   Antonyms: idiopathic

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.

• French: secondaire
• German: sekundär
• Italian: secondario, secondaria
• Portuguese: secundário
• Russian: втори́чный
• Spanish: secundario

• Spanish: suplente

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

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene i]:

     Old Escalus […] is thy secondary.

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.

• German: Armschwinge