secondary Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the defensive football players who line up behind the linemen
  2. noun coil such that current is induced in it by passing a current through the primary coil
    secondary coil; secondary winding.
  3. adjective being of second rank or importance or value; not direct or immediate
    • the stone will be hauled to a secondary crusher
    • a secondary source
    • a secondary issue
    • secondary streams
  4. adjective satellite inferior in rank or status
    petty; junior-grade; lower-ranking; lowly; subaltern.
    • the junior faculty
    • a lowly corporal
    • petty officialdom
    • a subordinate functionary
  5. adjective satellite depending on or incidental to what is original or primary
    • a secondary infection
  6. adjective satellite not of major importance
    • played a secondary role in world events
  7. adjective satellite belonging to a lower class or rank

WordNet

Sec"ond*a*ry adjective
Etymology
Cf. F. secondaire, L. secundaire. See Second, a.
Definitions
  1. Suceeding next in order to the first; of second place, origin, rank, rank, etc.; not primary; subordinate; not of the first order or rate.
    Wheresoever there is normal right on the one hand, no secondary right can discharge it. L'Estrange.
    Two are the radical differences; the secondary differences are as four. Bacon.
  2. Acting by deputation or delegated authority; as, the work of secondary hands.
  3. (Chem.) Possessing some quality, or having been subject to some operation (as substitution), in the second degree; as, a secondary salt, a secondary amine, etc. Cf. primary.
  4. (Min.) Subsequent in origin; -- said of minerals produced by alteertion 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.
  5. (Zoöl.) Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird.
  6. (Med.) Dependent or consequent upon another disease; as, Bright's disease is often secondary to scarlet fever. (b) Occuring in the second stage of a disease; as, the secondary symptoms of syphilis. Syn. -- Second; second-rate; subordinate; inferior.
Sec"ond*a*ry noun
Wordforms
plural Secondaries
Definitions
  1. One who occupies a subordinate, inferior, or auxiliary place; a delegate deputy; one who is second or next to the chief officer; as, the secondary, or undersheriff of the city of London.
    Old Escalus . . . is thy secondary. Shak.
  2. (Astron.) (a) A secondary circle. (b) A satellite.
  3. (Zoöl.) A secondary quill.

Webster 1913