Word.ws English Dictionary

second fiddle

second fiddle noun: a fiddle part in harmony to the first fiddle.

Noun

second fiddle (plural second fiddles)

  1. A fiddle part in harmony to the first fiddle.
    • The second fiddle on that tune is almost as hard as the first fiddle.
  2. The person playing second fiddle.
    • I've been second fiddle in that orchestra for ten years now.
  3. (idiomatic) A sidekick or subordinate, or the role of such a person.
    • I'm tired of being your second fiddle!
    • Listen, buttercup, you're damned good in bed. They don't come any better, but I'm really not interested in playing second fiddle to your camera or your young lovers.1987, Joyce Brandon, Lady and the Lawman, page 346

Forms of second fiddle

pluralsecond fiddles

Questions about second fiddle

What does second fiddle mean?
Second fiddle means a fiddle part in harmony to the first fiddle.
What part of speech is second fiddle?
Second fiddle is a noun.
What is the plural of second fiddle?
The plural of second fiddle is second fiddles.

Words near second fiddle in the dictionary

  1. second downs
  2. Second Empire
  3. second estate
  4. second families
  5. second family
  6. second fiddle
  7. second fiddles
  8. second five-eighth
  9. second five-eighths
  10. second flour
  11. second freedom rights

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: second fiddle (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-second fiddle.ogg.

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