adj · noun · 31 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
UK:/ˈsɛkənd(ə)ɹɪ/
US:/ˈsɛkənˌdɛɹi/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:S EH1 K AH0 N D EH2 R IY0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
adj
Meaning 1
Next in order to the first or primary; of second place in origin, rank, etc.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
adj
Meaning 2
Originating from a deputy or delegated person or body.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, usually
Examples
the work of secondary hands
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
adj
Meaning 3
Derived from a parent compound by replacement of two atoms of hydrogen by organic radicals.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
adj
Meaning 4
Produced by alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rock mass.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, usually
Topics: geography, geology, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
adj
Meaning 5
Developed by pressure or other causes.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, usually
Topics: geography, geology, natural-sciences
Examples
secondary cleavage
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
adj
Meaning 6
Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, usually
Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
7
adj
Meaning 7
Dependent or consequent upon another disease, or occurring in the second stage of a disease.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, usually
Topics: medicine, sciences
Examples
Bright's disease is often secondary to scarlet fever.
the secondary symptoms of syphilis
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: idiopathic
8
adj
Meaning 8
Of less than primary importance.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, usually
Examples
a secondary issue
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: associate
Antonyms: none provided
9
adj
Meaning 9
Related to secondary education, i.e. schooling between the ages of (approximately) 11 and 18.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, usually
Topics: education
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
10
adj
Meaning 10
Relating to the manufacture of goods from raw materials.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, usually
Topics: business, manufacturing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
11
adj
Meaning 11
Formed by mixing primary colors.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, usually
Examples
Yellow is a secondary light color, though a primary CMYK color.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
12
adj
Meaning 12
Representing a reversion to an ancestral state.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, usually
Topics: biology, natural-sciences, taxonomy
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
13
noun
Meaning 13
Any flight feather attached to the ulna (forearm) of a bird.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: biology, natural-sciences, ornithology
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
14
noun
Meaning 14
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
15
noun
Meaning 15
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: government, military, politics, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
16
noun
Meaning 16
An act of issuing more stock by an already publicly traded corporation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: business, finance
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
17
noun
Meaning 17
The defensive backs.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
coil such that current is induced in it by passing a current through the primary coil
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: secondary coil, secondary winding
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: coil
31
noun
Meaning 31
the defensive football players who line up behind the linemen
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: formation
History
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.
Across languages
Translations
45 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Arabic:
ثَانَوِي
(Thānawī)
— succeeding first
Bulgarian:
вторичен
(vtoričen)
— succeeding first
Catalan:
secundari
— succeeding first
Catalan:
secundària
— succeeding first
Danish:
sekundær
— succeeding first
Dutch:
secundair
— succeeding first
Esperanto:
sekundara
— succeeding first
Esperanto:
duagrada
— succeeding first
Esperanto:
duaperioda
— succeeding first
French:
secondaire
— succeeding first
Galician:
secundario
— succeeding first
Georgian:
მეორადი
(meoradi)
— succeeding first
German:
sekundär
— succeeding first
Greek:
δευτερεύων
(defterévon)
— succeeding first
Hindi:
द्वितीय
(dvitīya)
— succeeding first
Hindi:
दूसरा
(dūsrā)
— succeeding first
Ido:
sekundara
— succeeding first
Indonesian:
sekunder
— succeeding first
Italian:
secondario
— succeeding first
Italian:
secondaria
— succeeding first
Japanese:
二次的な
(nijiteki na)
— succeeding first
Japanese:
二義的な
(nigiteki na)
— succeeding first
Japanese:
副次的な
(fukujiteki na)
— succeeding first
Lithuanian:
antrinis
— succeeding first
Malayalam:
ദ്വിതീയ
(dvitīya)
— succeeding first
Norman:
s'gondaithe
— succeeding first
Polish:
drugorzędny
— succeeding first
Portuguese:
secundário
— succeeding first
Romanian:
secundar
— succeeding first
Russian:
втори́чный
(vtoríčnyj)
— succeeding first
Scottish Gaelic:
dàrnach
— succeeding first
Spanish:
secundario
— succeeding first
Tatar:
икенчел
(ikençel)
— succeeding first
Turkish:
ikincil
— succeeding first
Vietnamese:
thứ hai
— succeeding first
Vietnamese:
thứ nhì
— succeeding first
Vietnamese:
thứ cấp
— succeeding first
Yiddish:
צווייטיק
(tsveytik)
— succeeding first
Bulgarian:
помощен
(pomošten)
— acting by deputation
Dutch:
plaatsvervangend
— acting by deputation
Polish:
pomocniczy
— acting by deputation
Spanish:
suplente
— acting by deputation
German:
Armschwinge
— flight feather attached to the ulna
Polish:
lotka drugiego rzędu
— flight feather attached to the ulna
Scottish Gaelic:
dàrna ite sgèith
— flight feather attached to the ulna