secondary

English

English numbers ^(edit)

←  1	2	3  →
Cardinal: two     Ordinal: second     Latinate ordinal: secondary     Reverse order ordinal: second to last, second from last, last but one     Latinate reverse order ordinal: penultimate     Adverbial: two times, twice     Multiplier: twofold     Latinate multiplier: double     Distributive: doubly     Germanic collective: pair, twosome     Collective of n parts: doublet, couple, couplet     Greek or Latinate collective: dyad     Metric collective prefix: double-     Greek collective prefix: di-, duo-     Latinate collective prefix: bi-     Fractional: half     Metric fractional prefix: demi-     Latinate fractional prefix: semi-     Greek fractional prefix: hemi-     Elemental: twin, doublet     Greek prefix: deutero-     Number of musicians: duo, duet, duplet     Number of years: biennium

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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛkənd(ə)ɹɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛkənˌdɛɹi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

Latinate ordinals

Previous:	primary
Next:	tertiary

secondary (not generally comparable, comparative more secondary, superlative most secondary)

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.

   Antonym: idiopathic

   Bright's disease is often secondary to scarlet fever.

   the secondary symptoms of syphilis

8. Of less than primary importance.

   a secondary issue

   • 1992, Deborah Bernstein, Pioneers and Homemakers: Jewish Women in Pre-state Israel, page 227:

     the problem of sexual equality became even more secondary than before in the eyes of the kibbutz and of its women members.

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.
    • 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:

      With the exception of a secondary loss in Dimecoenia, larvae of Ephydrini have prominent, ventral prolegs that bear crochets.

Coordinate terms

Terms coordinate to secondary

• primary (1)
• tertiary (3)
• quaternary (4)
• quinary (5)
• senary (6)
• septenary (7)
• octonary (8)
• nonary (9)
• denary (10)
• duodenary (12)
• vigenary (20)

Derived terms

Terms derived from secondary (adjective)

• secondarily
• secondary alcohol
• secondary amine
• secondary cell wall
• secondary circle
• secondary color, secondary colour
• secondary diagonal
• secondary drowning
• secondary education
• secondary emission
• secondary energy
• secondary explosive
• secondary fermentation
• secondary hypothermia
• secondary immunodeficiency
• secondary industry
• secondary infection
• secondary intention
• secondary ion mass spectrometry
• secondary liability
• secondary market
• secondary phosphine
• secondary radar
• secondary research
• secondary sanction
• secondary school
• secondary sector
• secondary sex characteristic
• secondary smoking
• secondary source
• secondary stress
• secondary structure
• secondary surveillance radar
• secondary valence
• secondary victimisation, secondary victimization
• secondary work
• secondary world

 

Translations

succeeding first

• Arabic: ثَانَوِي m (Thānawī)
• Bulgarian: вторичен (bg) (vtoričen)
• Catalan: secundari (ca) m, secundària (ca) f
• Danish: sekundær
• Dutch: secundair (nl)
• Esperanto: sekundara, duagrada, duaperioda
• French: secondaire (fr)
• Galician: secundario (gl)
• Georgian: მეორადი (meoradi)
• German: sekundär (de)
• Greek: δευτερεύων (el) m (defterévon)
• Ido: sekundara (io)
• Indonesian: sekunder (id)
• Italian: secondario (it) m, secondaria (it) f
• Japanese: 二次的な (ja) (にじてきな, nijiteki na), 二義的な (ja) (にぎてきな, nigiteki na), 副次的な (ja) (ふくじてきな, fukujiteki na)
• Malayalam: ദ്വിതീയ (ml) (dvitīya)
• Norman: s'gondaithe
• Portuguese: secundário (pt)
• Romanian: secundar (ro)
• Russian: втори́чный (ru) (vtoríčnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: dàrnach
• Spanish: secundario (es)
• Tatar: икенчел (ikençel)
• Turkish: ikincil (tr)
• Vietnamese: thứ hai (vi), thứ nhì, thứ cấp (vi)
• Yiddish: צווייטיק (tsveytik)

acting by deputation

• Bulgarian: помощен (bg) (pomošten)
• Dutch: plaatsvervangend (nl)
• Spanish: suplente

Noun

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.

Translations

flight feather attached to the ulna

• German: Armschwinge f
• Scottish Gaelic: dàrna ite sgèith f

Middle English

Adjective

secondary

1. Alternative form of secundarie

Noun

secondary

1. Alternative form of secundarie