American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of the second rank; not primary.
- adj. Inferior.
- adj. Minor; lesser.
- adj. Derived from what is primary or original: a secondary source; a secondary infection.
- adj. Of, relating to, or being the shorter flight feathers projecting along the inner edge of a bird's wing.
- adj. Electricity Having an induced current that is generated by an inductively coupled primary. Used of a circuit or coil.
- adj. Chemistry Characterized or formed by replacement of two atoms or radicals within a molecule. Used of a compound.
- adj. Geology Produced from another mineral by decay or alteration.
- adj. Of or relating to a secondary school: secondary education.
- adj. Of or relating to a secondary color or colors.
- adj. Being a degree of health care intermediate between that offered in a physician's office and that available at a research hospital, as the care typically offered at a clinic or community hospital.
- adj. Botany Of, relating to, or derived from a lateral meristem, especially a cambium.
- n. One that acts in an auxiliary, subordinate, or inferior capacity.
- n. One of the shorter flight feathers projecting along the inner edge of a bird's wing.
- n. Electricity A coil or circuit having an induced current.
- n. Astronomy A celestial body that revolves around another; a satellite.
- n. The dimmer star of a binary star system.
- n. A secondary color.
- n. Football The defensive backfield.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of asecond class or group; second, not merely as so counted, but in its own nature; appropriately reckoned as second; fulfilling a function similar to that which is primary, but less important: opposed to primary or principal. That which is secondary, properly speaking, differs from anything subsidiary or subordinate in that the latter only serves to enable the primary to fulfil its function, while the secondary thing fulfils a similar but less important function. Thus, a subsidiary purpose is a means to an ultimate end; but a secondary purpose or end is a weaker motive reinforcing a stronger one.
- Subordinate; inferior.
- In ornithology:
- Of the second order, rank, row, or series, between the primary and the tertiary, as remiges or flight-feathers. See cuts under covert, n., 6, and bird.
- Pertaining to the secondaries: as, the secondary coverts. These are the largest and most conspicuous of the tectrices of a bird's wing, and are divided into greater, median or middle, and lesser. See cut under
covert, n., 6.
- In mineralogy, subsequent in origin; produced by chemical change or by mechanical or other means after the original mineral was formed: said of cleavage, twinning, etc.: as, the secondary twinning sometimes developed in pyroxene and other species by pressure.
- [capitalized] In paleon., same as Mesozoic
- In modern philos., since Galileo (who in 1623 calls the qualities known as primary “primi accidenti”) and Boyle (who in 1666 uses the term “secondary qualities, if I may so call them,” in precisely the modern signification), affections of bodies; affective, patible, sensible qualities; imputed qualities; qualities of bodies relative to the organs of sense, as color, taste, smell, etc.: opposed to those characters (called primary qualities, though properly speaking they are not qualities at all) which we cannot imagine bodies as wanting. Sometimes called secondary properties.
- n. A delegate or deputy; one who acts in subordination to another; one who occupies a subordinate or inferior position; specifically, a cathedral dignitary of the second rank, such as a minor canon, precentor, singing clerk, etc. The application of the title varies in different cathedrals.
- n. A thing which is of second or secondary position or importance, or is dependent on a primary: said of circles, planets, etc.
- n. Specifically.
- n. A secondary remex or flight-feather; one of the large quills of a bird's wing which are seated on the forearm, and intervene between the primaries and the tertiaries. They vary in number from six (in humming-birds) to forty or more (in albatrosses). See cuts under bird and covert.
- n. In entomology, one of the posterior or hind wings of an insect, especially of a butterfly or moth. See cut under Cirrophanus.
- n. [capitalized] In geology, that part of the series of fossi-liferous formations which lies between the Primary or Paleozoic and the Tertiary or Cænozoic. Same as
Mesozoic, a word introduced by John Phillips after Paleozoichad become current. Paleozoic and Mesozoic are now terms in general use; but Cænozoic, corresponding to Tertiary, is much less common. Secondary as at present used by geologists has a quite different meaning from that which it originally had when introduced by Lehmann, about the middle of the eighteenth century. According to his classification, all rocks were divided into primitive, secondary, and alluvial. This classification was improved by Werner, who intercalated a “Transition series” between the primary and the secondary. See Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Tertiary, and Transition.
- n. In meteorology, a subsidiary cyclonic circulation, generally on the border of a primary cyclone, accompanied by rain, thunder-storms, and squalls: indicated on a weather-map by the bulging of an isobar toward the region of higher pressure.
- In geology, applied to those rock-making minerals which are the products of the alteration or decay of the minerals, original or primary, in the rock. Thus quartz, feldspar, and mica are primary in granite, whereas kaolin, arising from the decay of the feldspar, is secondary.
- In electricity: Pertaining to those parts of a transformer, or induction-coil, in which the induced currents occur, as distinguished from the corresponding parts of the primary or inducing circuit; as the secondary coils, windings, turns, or terminals of a transformer.
- Pertaining to the induced current or electromotive force in a transformer or induction-coil.
- n. plural The symptoms occurring in the second stage of syphilis.
- n. One of the smaller tubercles on the surface of the test in the Echinoidea or sea-urchins. The secondaries are intermediate in size between the primaries and the miliaries.
- n. In English law, the second officer of the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas; also, an officer of the Corporation of London who hears inquiries to assess damages in cases where the defendant does not appear.
- n. In an alternating-current transformer or other apparatus having several circuits in inductive relation to each other, that coil or circuit which receives power by induction from the primary coil.
- adj. Succeeding next in order to the first; of second place, origin, rank, rank, etc.; not primary; subordinate; not of the first order or rate.
- adj. Acting by deputation or delegated authority; as, the work of secondary hands.
- adj. Possessing some quality, or having been subject to some operation (as substitution), in the second degree; as, a secondary salt, a secondary amine, etc. Compare primary.
- adj. geology Subsequent in origin; -- said of minerals produced by alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rocks mass; also of characters of minerals (as secondary cleavage, etc.) developed by pressure or other causes.
- adj. zootomy Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird.
- adj. medicine Dependent or consequent upon another disease; as, Bright's disease is often secondary to scarlet fever; or occurring in the second stage of a disease; as, the secondary symptoms of syphilis.
- adj. Of less than primary importance.
- adj. Formed by mixing primary colors.
- n. Used as an abbreviation to refer to items with names containing secondary.
- n. ornithology Any flight feather attached to the ulna (forearm) of a bird.
- n. finance An act of issuing more stock by an already publicly traded corporation.
- n. American football , (Canadian football) The defensive backs.
- n. electronics An inductive coil or loop that is magnetically powered by a primary in a transformer or similar
- n. One who occupies a subordinate or auxiliary place; a delegate deputy.
- n. astronomy A secondary circle.
- n. astronomy A satellite.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Succeeding next in order to the first; of second place, origin, rank, etc.; not primary; subordinate; not of the first order or rate.
- adj. Acting by deputation or delegated authority.
- adj. (Chem.) Possessing some quality, or having been subject to some operation (as substitution), in the second degree; Cf. primary.
- adj. (Min.) Subsequent in origin; -- said of minerals produced by alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rock mass; also of characters of minerals (as
secondarycleavage, etc.) developed by pressure or other causes.
- adj. (Zoöl.) Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird.
- adj. Dependent or consequent upon another disease.
- adj. Occurring in the second stage of a disease.
- n. One who occupies a subordinate, inferior, or auxiliary place; a delegate or deputy; one who is second or next to the chief officer.
- n. A secondary circle.
- n. A satellite.
- n. (Zoöl.) A secondary quill.
- adj. depending on or incidental to what is original or primary
- n. the defensive football players who line up behind the linemen
- adj. being of second rank or importance or value; not direct or immediate
- adj. inferior in rank or status
- adj. not of major importance
- adj. belonging to a lower class or rank
- n. coil such that current is induced in it by passing a current through the primary coil
- From the 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. (Wiktionary)
“Lorrie Norrington, President of eBay Marketplaces, defined what eBay meant by the term secondary market in answering a two-part question from one of the analysts in attendance.”
“After exactly two decades, Dr Melvyn Kershaw has packed up his rucksack and left the comprehensive whose stewardship has earned him the title secondary school headteacher of the year.”
“The defense loses five starters, but defensive tackle Jared Crick anchors a strong line, and the secondary is the deepest it's been in years.”
“Sarwer, can't guarantee satisfaction for patients who yearn for what he calls secondary benefits, such as, 'I'm recently widowed and want to get back into the dating scene.”
“In addition to the line, the secondary is a question mark for the Terrapins, who will be looking for Kenny Tate and Antwine Perez to step up their game now that they are the projected starters at safety, while redshirt freshman Dexter McDougle could find himself starting at corner.”
“So some folks are going to be seeing what we call a secondary crest.”
“' Every team has a weakness, and that team, the secondary is a weakness, and that's what we tried to exploit, '' Frerotte said.”
“That ` s what I call secondary embarrassment viral video.”
“But given the fact that she had the command hallucinations in the past and that this time she did not try to resist them suggests to me that she had what we call secondary gains in being ill.”
“Having children here is what we call a secondary effect of migration; it's something that is so far down the line, the possibility of using a child to legalize your status, that it's rarely given as a reason, when we interview immigrants, for coming to this country.”
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