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Secondary - 9 dictionary results

sec⋅ond⋅ar⋅y

  [sek-uhn-der-ee] adjective, noun, plural -ar⋅ies.
Use Secondary in a Sentence
–adjective
1. next after the first in order, place, time, etc.
2. belonging or pertaining to a second order, division, stage, period, rank, grade, etc.
3. derived or derivative; not primary or original: secondary sources of historical research.
4. of minor or lesser importance; subordinate; auxiliary.
5. of or pertaining to secondary schools.
6. Chemistry.
a. involving or obtained by the replacement of two atoms or groups.
b. noting or containing a carbon atom united to two other carbon atoms in a chain or ring molecule.
7. Electricity. noting or pertaining to the current induced by a primary winding or to the winding in which the current is induced in an induction coil, transformer, or the like.
8. Geology. noting or pertaining to a mineral produced from another mineral by decay, alteration, or the like.
9. Grammar.
a. derived.
b. derived from a word that is itself a derived word: a secondary derivative.
c. having reference to past time; noting or pertaining to a past tense: the Latin, Greek, or Sanskrit secondary tenses. Compare primary (def. 13).
10. Ornithology. pertaining to any of a set of flight feathers on the second segment of a bird's wing.
11. Linguistics. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a secondary accent: secondary stress.
–noun
12. a person or thing that is secondary.
13. a subordinate, assistant, deputy, or agent.
14. Electricity. a winding in a transformer or the like in which a current is induced by a primary winding.
15. Ornithology. a secondary feather.
16. Football. the defensive unit that lines up behind the linemen.
17. Linguistics. secondary accent.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME < L secundārius. See second 1 , -ary

Related forms:
sec⋅ond⋅ar⋅i⋅ly  [sek-uhn-der-uh-lee, sek-uhn-dair-] , adverb
sec⋅ond⋅ar⋅i⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
4. alternate, subsidiary, backup.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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sec·ond·ar·y   (sěk'ən-děr'ē)   
adj.  
    1. Of the second rank; not primary.
    2. Inferior.
    3. Minor; lesser.
  2. Derived from what is primary or original: a secondary source; a secondary infection.
  3. Of, relating to, or being the shorter flight feathers projecting along the inner edge of a bird's wing.
  4. Electricity Having an induced current that is generated by an inductively coupled primary. Used of a circuit or coil.
  5. Chemistry Characterized or formed by replacement of two atoms or radicals within a molecule. Used of a compound.
  6. Geology Produced from another mineral by decay or alteration.
  7. Of or relating to a secondary school: secondary education.
  8. Of or relating to a secondary color or colors.
  9. Being a degree of health care intermediate between that offered in a physician's office and that available at a research hospital, as the care typically offered at a clinic or community hospital.
  10. Botany Of, relating to, or derived from a lateral meristem, especially a cambium.
n.   pl. sec·ond·ar·ies
  1. One that acts in an auxiliary, subordinate, or inferior capacity.
  2. One of the shorter flight feathers projecting along the inner edge of a bird's wing.
  3. Electricity A coil or circuit having an induced current.
    1. Astronomy A celestial body that revolves around another; a satellite.
    2. The dimmer star of a binary star system.
  5. A secondary color.
  6. Football The defensive backfield.
sec'ond·ar'i·ly (-dâr'ə-lē) adv., sec'ond·ar'i·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Secondary

Sec"ond*a*ry\, a. [Cf. F. secondaire, L. secundaire. See Second, a.]

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. (Zo["o]l.) 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.

Secondary accent. See the Note under Accent, n., 1.

Secondary age. (Geol.) The Mesozoic age, or age before the Tertiary. See Mesozoic, and Note under Age, n., 8.

Secondary alcohol (Chem.), any one of a series of alcohols which contain the radical CH.OH united with two hydrocarbon radicals. On oxidation the secondary alcohols form ketones.

Secondary amputation (Surg.), an amputation for injury, performed after the constitutional effects of the injury have subsided.

Secondary axis (Opt.), any line which passes through the optical center of a lens but not through the centers of curvature, or, in the case of a mirror, which passes through the center of curvature but not through the center of the mirror.

Secondary battery. (Elec.) See under Battery, n., 4.

Secondary circle (Geom. & Astron.), a great circle passes through the poles of another great circle and is therefore perpendicular to its plane.

Secondary circuit, Secondary coil (Elec.), a circuit or coil in which a current is produced by the induction of a current in a neighboring circuit or coil called the primary circuit or coil.

Secondary color, a color formed by mixing any two primary colors in equal proportions.

Secondary coverts (Zo["o]l.), the longer coverts which overlie the basal part of the secondary quills of a bird. See Illust. under Bird.

Secondary crystal (Min.), a crystal derived from one of the primary forms.

Secondary current (Elec.), a momentary current induced in a closed circuit by a current of electricity passing through the same or a contiguous circuit at the beginning and also at the end of the passage of the primary current.

Secondary evidence, that which is admitted upon failure to obtain the primary or best evidence.

Secondary fever (Med.), a fever coming on in a disease after the subsidence of the fever with which the disease began, as the fever which attends the outbreak of the eruption in smallpox.

Secondary hemorrhage (Med.), hemorrhage occuring from a wounded blood vessel at some considerable time after the original bleeding has ceased.

Secondary planet. (Astron.) See the Note under Planet.

Secondary qualities, those qualities of bodies which are not inseparable from them as such, but are dependent for their development and intensity on the organism of the percipient, such as color, taste, odor, etc.

Secondary quills or remiges (Zo["o]l.), the quill feathers arising from the forearm of a bird and forming a row continuous with the primaries; -- called also secondaries. See Illust. of Bird.

Secondary rocks or strata (Geol.), those lying between the Primary, or Paleozoic, and Tertiary (see Primary rocks, under Primary); -- later restricted to strata of the Mesozoic age, and at but little used.

Secondary syphilis (Med.), the second stage of syphilis, including the period from the first development of constitutional symptoms to the time when the bones and the internal organs become involved.

Secondary tint, any subdued tint, as gray.

Secondary union (Surg.), the union of wounds after suppuration; union by the second intention.

Syn: Second; second-rate; subordinate; inferior.

Secondary

Sec"ond*a*ry\, n.; pl. Secondaries. 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. (Zo["o]l.) A secondary quill.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Secondary
Spanish: secundario,
German: höher,
Japanese: 中等の
More Translations »

secondary  (adj.)
1386, from L. secundarius "pertaining to the second class, inferior," from secundus (see second (adj.)).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: sec·ond·ary
Pronunciation: 'se-k&n-"der-E
Function: adjective
1 : of second rank, status, importance, or value
2 : derived from something original or primary
3 : of, relating to, or being the second order or stage in a series —sec·ond·ar·i·ly /"se-k&n-'der-&-lE/ adverb —sec·ond·ar·i·ness /'se-k&n-"der-E-n&s/ noun
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Main Entry: sec·ond·ary
Pronunciation: 'sek-&n-"der-E
Function: adjective
1 : not first in order of occurrence or development: as a : dependent or consequent on another disease <secondary hypertension> secondary to scarlet fever> b : occurringor being in the second stage <secondary symptoms of syphilis> c : occurring some time after the original injury secondary hemorrhage>
2 : characterized by or resulting from the substitution of two atoms or groups in a molecule secondary salt>; especially : being, characterized by, or attached toa carbon atom having bonds to two other carbon atoms
3 : relating to or being the three-dimensional coiling of the polypeptide chain of a protein especially in the form of analpha-helix —compare PRIMARY 4, TERTIARY 2c —sec·ond·ari·ly /"sek-&n-'der-&-lE/ adverb
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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secondary sec·ond·ar·y (sěk'ən-děr'ē)
adj.

  1. Of the second rank; not primary.
  2. Inferior.
  3. Minor; lesser.
  4. Derived from what is primary or original.
  5. Of or relating to a chemical compound characterized or formed by replacement of two atoms or radicals within a molecule.
  6. Of, relating to, or being a degree of health care intermediate between that offered in a physician's office and that available at a research hospital, as the care typically offered at a clinic or community hospital.
sec'ond·ar'i·ly (-dâr'ə-lē) adv.
sec'ond·ar'i·ness n.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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secondary   (sěk'ən-děr'ē)  Pronunciation Key 
  1. Relating to a secondary color.
  2. Relating to or derived from either of the lateral meristems (the cork cambium or the vascular cambium) of vascular plants. For example, secondary xylem in a stem is produced by the vascular cambium, as opposed to primary xylem produced by the apical meristem during the original growth of the stem from a seedling. See also secondary growth.
    1. Relating to or having a carbon atom that is attached to two other carbon atoms in a molecule.
    2. Relating to an organic molecule, such as an alcohol, in which the functional group is attached to a secondary carbon.
  4. Relating to a medical condition that arises as a result of another disorder, disease process, or injury. Compare primary, tertiary.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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