secondary
Pronunciation: /ˈsɛkənd(ə)ɹɪ/
The English word “secondary” has 20 meanings listed here.
adjective
- Next in order to the first or primary; of second place in origin, rank, etc.
- Originating from a deputy or delegated person or body.
- Derived from a parent compound by replacement of two atoms of hydrogen by organic radicals.
- Produced by alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rock mass.
- Developed by pressure or other causes.
- Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird.
- Dependent or consequent upon another disease, or occurring in the second stage of a disease.
- Of less than primary importance.
- Related to secondary education, i.e. schooling between the ages of (approximately) 11 and 18.
- Relating to the manufacture of goods from raw materials.
- Formed by mixing primary colors.
- Representing a reversion to an ancestral state.
noun
- Any flight feather attached to the ulna (forearm) of a bird.
- 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.
- 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.
- An act of issuing more stock by an already publicly traded corporation.
- The defensive backs.
- An inductive coil or loop that is magnetically powered by a primary in a transformer or similar.
- One who occupies a subordinate or auxiliary place; a delegate deputy.
- A secondary circle.
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.
Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “secondary” there
More English words
- second-waver
- secondable
- secondarily
- secondariness
- secondary accent
- secondary action
- secondary alcohol
- secondary amine
About this dictionary
The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.
Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.