secondary
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsɛkənd(ə)ɹɪ/
ipa: /ˈsɛkənˌdɛɹi/
Forms: form: more secondary
form: most secondary
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.
Senses: glosses: Next in order to the first or primary; of second place in origin, rank, etc.
examples: text: the work of secondary hands
glosses: Originating from a deputy or delegated person or body.
topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
organic-chemistry
physical-sciences
glosses: Derived from a parent compound by replacement of two atoms of hydrogen by organic radicals.
topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: Produced by alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rock mass.
examples: text: secondary cleavage
topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: Developed by pressure or other causes.
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
glosses: Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird.
examples: text: Bright's disease is often secondary to scarlet fever.
text: the secondary symptoms of syphilis
topics: medicine
sciences
antonyms: idiopathic
glosses: Dependent or consequent upon another disease, or occurring in the second stage of a disease.
examples: text: a secondary issue
text: the problem of sexual equality became even more secondary than before in the eyes of the kibbutz and of its women members.
ref: 1992, Deborah Bernstein, Pioneers and Homemakers: Jewish Women in Pre-state Israel, page 227:
glosses: Of less than primary importance.
topics: education
glosses: Related to secondary education, i.e. schooling between the ages of (approximately) 11 and 18.
topics: business
manufacturing
glosses: Relating to the manufacture of goods from raw materials.
examples: text: Yellow is a secondary light color, though a primary CMYK color.
glosses: Formed by mixing primary colors.
raw_tags: of a color
examples: text: With the exception of a secondary loss in Dimecoenia, larvae of Ephydrini have prominent, ventral prolegs that bear crochets.
ref: 2016 May 27, Wayne M. Matthis, Luciane Marinoni, “Revision of Ephydrini Zetterstedt (Diptera: Ephydridae) from the Americas south of the United States”, in Zootaxa, volume 4116, number 1, →DOI:
topics: biology
natural-sciences
taxonomy
glosses: Representing a reversion to an ancestral state.
Coordinate terms: sense: Relating to the manufacture of goods from raw materials.
word: denary
sense: Representing a reversion to an ancestral state.
word: duodenary
sense: Related to secondary education, i.e. schooling between the ages of (approximately) 11 and 18.
word: nonary
sense: Of less than primary importance.
word: octonary
sense: Next in order to the first or primary; of second place in origin, rank, etc.
word: primary
sense: Produced by alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rock mass.
word: quaternary
sense: Developed by pressure or other causes.
word: quinary
sense: Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird.
word: senary
sense: Dependent or consequent upon another disease, or occurring in the second stage of a disease.
word: septenary
sense: Derived from a parent compound by replacement of two atoms of hydrogen by organic radicals.
word: tertiary
word: vigenary
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: circumsecondary
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: intersecondary
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: nonsecondary
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: postsecondary
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: presecondary
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: Seconal
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondarily
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondariness
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary alcohol
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary amine
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary cell
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary cell wall
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary circle
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary color
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary colour
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary diagonal
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary dominant
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary drowning
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary education
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary emission
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary energy
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary explosive
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary fermentation
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary fire
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary hypothermia
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary immunodeficiency
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary industry
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary infection
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary intention
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary ion mass spectrometry
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary liability
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary market
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary phosphine
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary planet
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary radar
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary research
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary sanction
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary school
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary sector
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary sex characteristic
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary smoking
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary source
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary stress
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary structure
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary surveillance radar
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary tech
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary technical school
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary valence
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary vaping
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary victimisation
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary victimization
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary work
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: secondary world
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: semisecondary
sense: Terms derived from secondary (adjective)
word: supersecondary