Word.ws English Dictionary

every second

every second adjective: every other/two; each alternate.

Adjective

every second (not comparable)

  1. Every other/two; each alternate.
    • Take the medication every second day.
    Synonyms:
    every other

Adverb

every second (not comparable)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: Once per second.
  2. (figuratively) Very frequently; more frequently than is desired.
    • Why do you keep bothering me every second?

Noun

every second (uncountable)

  1. The entirety of something of duration.
    • The man hated every second of the ten years he served in prison for a crime he didn't commit.
    • After enduring traumatic experiences, many people are likely to remember every second of them.

Synonyms of every second

Questions about every second

What does every second mean?
Every second means every other/two; each alternate.
What part of speech is every second?
Every second can be an adjective, an adverb or a noun.

Words near every second in the dictionary

  1. every other
  2. every point of the compass
  3. every rose has a thorn
  4. every rose has its thorn
  5. every rule has an exception
  6. every second
  7. every shut eye isn't asleep
  8. every silver lining has a cloud
  9. every single
  10. every single time
  11. every so often

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: every second (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-every second.wav.

Cite this entry: “every second.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/every_second. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.