SECONDARY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does secondary mean? 

• SECONDARY (noun)
  The noun SECONDARY has 2 senses:

1. the defensive football players who line up behind the linemen

2. coil such that current is induced in it by passing a current through the primary coil

  Familiarity information: SECONDARY used as a noun is rare.

• SECONDARY (adjective)
  The adjective SECONDARY has 5 senses:

1. being of second rank or importance or value; not direct or immediate

2. inferior in rank or status

3. depending on or incidental to what is original or primary

4. not of major importance

5. belonging to a lower class or rank

  Familiarity information: SECONDARY used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SECONDARY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The defensive football players who line up behind the linemen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("secondary" is a kind of...):

formation (an arrangement of people or things acting as a unit)

Meronyms (members of "secondary"):

back ((American football) the position of a player on a football team who is stationed behind the line of scrimmage)

Holonyms ("secondary" is a member of...):

eleven; football team (a team that plays football)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Coil such that current is induced in it by passing a current through the primary coil

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

secondary; secondary coil; secondary winding

Hypernyms ("secondary" is a kind of...):

coil (reactor consisting of a spiral of insulated wire that introduces inductance into a circuit)

Holonyms ("secondary" is a part of...):

transformer (an electrical device by which alternating current of one voltage is changed to another voltage)

• SECONDARY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Being of second rank or importance or value; not direct or immediate

Context example:

secondary streams

Similar:

collateral (additional but secondary; auxiliary)

vicarious (experienced at secondhand)

substitute; utility (capable of substituting in any of several positions on a team)

tributary ((of a stream) flowing into a larger stream)

thirdhand (derived from what is primary or original by two intermediate steps)

standby (ready for emergency use)

second-string (being a replacement or substitute for a regular member of a team)

secondhand (derived from what is primary or original; not firsthand)

indirect (not as a direct effect or consequence)

auxiliary; subsidiary; supplemental; supplementary (functioning in a supporting capacity)

alternate; alternative; substitute (serving or used in place of another)

Also:

unoriginal (not original; not being or productive of something fresh and unusual)

inessential; unessential (not basic or fundamental)

Antonym:

primary (of first rank or importance or value; direct and immediate rather than secondary)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Inferior in rank or status

Synonyms:

junior-grade; lower-ranking; lowly; petty; secondary; subaltern

Context example:

a subordinate functionary

Similar:

junior (younger; lower in rank; shorter in length of tenure or service)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Depending on or incidental to what is original or primary

Context example:

a secondary infection

Similar:

incident; incidental ((sometimes followed by 'to') minor or casual or subordinate in significance or nature or occurring as a chance concomitant or consequence)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Not of major importance

Context example:

played a secondary role in world events

Similar:

minor (of lesser importance or stature or rank)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Belonging to a lower class or rank

Similar:

low-level; subordinate (lower in rank or importance)

 Context examples 

A group of primary or secondary disorders affecting the muscles.

(Atrophic Muscular Disorder, NCI Thesaurus)

Secondary crater chains, the most common of the linear features, are long strings of circular depressions created by fragments thrown out of large impact craters as they formed on Ceres.

(Dawn Explores Ceres' Interior Evolution, NASA)

This revealed the microscopic detail of the secondary cell wall macrofibrils, which are 1000 times narrower than the width of a human hair.

(Revealing the nanostructure of wood could help raise height limits for wooden skyscrapers, University of Cambridge)

Nitrosamine Metabolism involves important cellular biochemical detoxification reactions that chemically modify the N-nitroso derivatives of secondary amines, formed by the combination of nitrates with amines.

(Nitrosamine Metabolism, NCI Thesaurus)

This allele, which encodes non-POU domain containing, octamer-binding protein, may play a role in the mediation of transcription, RNA splicing and DNA secondary structure.

(NONO wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

The secondary tumor contains cells that are like those in the original (primary) tumor

(Metastasis Suppression, NCI Thesaurus)

A study that is secondary to another study.

(Ancillary Study, NCI Thesaurus)

• In contrast to SARS-CoV-1, most secondary cases of virus transmission of SARS-CoV-2 appear to be occurring in community settings rather than healthcare settings.

(New coronavirus stable for hours on surface, National Institutes of Health)

A liver disorder caused by primary or secondary defects in the function of the mitochondria in the hepatocytes.

(Mitochondrial Hepatopathy, NCI Thesaurus)

A secondary sequence of characters used to identify a subject.

(Alternate Identifier, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)