quaternary

UK/kwəˈtɜː.nə.ɹi//ˈkwɑ.tɚˌnɛɹ.i/

quaternary adjective: of fourth rank or order.

Adjective

quaternary (not comparable)

Of fourth rank or order.
- the quaternary stress in a pronounced word
Of a mathematical expression containing e.g. x⁴.
Relating to or in number base four.
having a quaternary ammonium group.
- The available anticholinergics are divided into the tertiary anticholinergics, which cross the blood–brain barrier, and the quaternary anticholinergics, which do not cross the blood–brain barrier.2013, Eric Prommer, “Anticholinergics in Palliative Medicine: An Update”, in American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®, volume 30, number 5, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 490–498
- It was developed from pancuronium and differs from it only in the nature of the 2 p-atom which is tertiary as distinct from quaternary.1992, R. S. Jones, “Muscle relaxants in canine anaesthesia 1: History and the drugs”, in Journal of Small Animal Practice, volume 33, number 8, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 371–375
Composed of four elements.

Noun

quaternary (plural quaternaries)

A quaternary compound.
The Quaternary period or the system of deposits laid down during it.

Proper noun capitalized: Quaternary

US/ˈkwɑt.əɹˌnɛɹ.i/UK/ˈkwɒt.əˌnɛɹ.iː/

Quaternary

The geological period of the Cenozoic Era immediately following the Tertiary. It is subdivided into the Pleistocene and the Holocene Epochs.
- Meronyms: Pleistocene, Holocene, Anthropocene, assholocene
Synonyms:

Age of Man
Alternative letter-case form of quaternary.

quaternary meaning in Malay

quaternary in Malay

of fourth rank or order: aras empat, kuaterner

Examples of quaternary in a sentence

Unfortunately two of these, 47 and 49, were named anhalotine and peyotine respectively, names already assigned to the quaternary compounds 43 and 45.1983, Jan Lundström, “Chapter 6 Simple Isoquinoline Alkaloids”, in The Alkaloids: Chemistry and Pharmacology, volume 21, Elsevier, →DOI...
Several quaternary d-pilocarpine derivatives have been prepared in order to investigate the influence of structural changes on the biological activity of this alkaloid.1971, A. Ben Bassat, D. Lavie, H. Edery, G. Porath, “Quaternary pilocarpine derivatives acting as acetylcholine antagonists”, in Journal of...

All 12 example sentences with quaternary

Synonyms of quaternary

Forms of quaternary

plural	quaternaries

Origin of quaternary

Derived from Latin quaternārius (“containing or consisting of four”), from quaternī (“four each”, “four at a time”) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary); compare the French quaternaire.

From Latin quaternārius (“consisting of four”), from quaternī (“by fours”); in numerical sense via Middle English quaternary. Compare French quaternaire.

Phrases with quaternary

Questions about quaternary

What does quaternary mean?: Quaternary means of fourth rank or order.
What is quaternary in Malay?: Quaternary in Malay is aras empat, kuaterner. See Quaternary meaning in Malay.
How do you use quaternary in a sentence?: Unfortunately two of these, 47 and 49, were named anhalotine and peyotine respectively, names already assigned to the quaternary compounds 43 and 45.
What part of speech is quaternary?: Quaternary can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce quaternary?: Quaternary is pronounced /kwəˈtɜː.nə.ɹi/ (UK).

Words near quaternary in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: quaternary (page history and authors); Quaternary (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-quaternary.ogg, en-au-quaternary.ogg.

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