Word.ws English Dictionary

secondary

UK/ˈsɛkənd(ə)ɹɪ//ˈsɛkənˌdɛɹi/

secondary adjective: next in order to the first or primary; of second place in origin, rank, etc. Also the ellipsis of secondary colour.

Adjective

secondary (not generally comparable, comparative more secondary, superlative most secondary)

  1. (not comparable, usually) Next in order to the first or primary; of second place in origin, rank, etc.
  2. (not comparable, usually) Originating from a deputy or delegated person or body.
    • the work of secondary hands
  3. (not comparable, usually) Derived from a parent compound by replacement of two atoms of hydrogen by organic radicals.
  4. (not comparable, usually) Produced by alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rock mass.
  5. (not comparable, usually) Developed by pressure or other causes.
    • secondary cleavage
  6. (not comparable, usually) Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird.
  7. (not comparable, usually) Dependent or consequent upon another disease, or occurring in the second stage of a disease.
    • Bright's disease is often secondary to scarlet fever.
    • the secondary symptoms of syphilis
    Antonyms:
    idiopathic
  8. (not comparable, usually) Of less than primary importance.
    • a secondary issue
    • the problem of sexual equality became even more secondary than before in the eyes of the kibbutz and of its women members.1992, Deborah Bernstein, Pioneers and Homemakers: Jewish Women in Pre-state Israel, page 227
    Synonyms:
    associate
  9. (not comparable, usually) Related to secondary education, i.e. schooling between the ages of (approximately) 11 and 18.
  10. (not comparable, usually) Relating to the manufacture of goods from raw materials.
  11. (not comparable, usually) Formed by mixing primary colors.
    • Yellow is a secondary light color, though a primary CMYK color.
  12. (not comparable, usually) Representing a reversion to an ancestral state.
    • With the exception of a secondary loss in Dimecoenia, larvae of Ephydrini have prominent, ventral prolegs that bear crochets.2016 May 27, Wayne M. Matthis, Luciane Marinoni, “Revision of Ephydrini Zetterstedt (Diptera: Ephydridae) from the Americas south of the United States”, in Zootaxa, volume 4116, number 1, →DOI

Noun

secondary (plural secondaries)

  1. Any flight feather attached to the ulna (forearm) of a bird.
  2. A radar return generated by the response of an aircraft's transponder to an interrogation signal broadcast by a radar installation, containing additional encoded identification and situational data not available from a simple primary return.
  3. The second stage of a multistage thermonuclear weapon, which generates a fusion explosion when imploded as an indirect result of the fission explosion of the primary, and which, in a few extremely large weapons, itself implodes a fusion tertiary.
  4. An act of issuing more stock by an already publicly traded corporation.
  5. (Canadian) The defensive backs.
  6. An inductive coil or loop that is magnetically powered by a primary in a transformer or similar.
  7. One who occupies a subordinate or auxiliary place; a delegate deputy.
    • the secondary, or undersheriff, of the city of London
    • Old Escalus […] is thy secondary.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  8. A secondary circle.
  9. A satellite.
  10. A secondary school.
    • There are four secondaries in this district, each with several thousand pupils.
  11. Anything secondary or of lesser importance.

Also used as

secondary is also the ellipsis of secondary colour.

secondary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

secondary in Hindi

succeeding first
द्वितीय dvitīya, दूसरा dūsrā

secondary in Tamil

இரண்டாம்நிலை

secondary in Urdu

ثانوی, سیکنڈری

secondary in Bengali

সেকেন্ডারি, মাধ্যমিক
More languagesFewer languages
secondary in Telugu
సెకండరీ
secondary in Malayalam
ദ്വിതീയ dvitīya
secondary in Kannada
ಸೆಕೆಂಡರಿ, ದ್ವಿತೀಯಕ
secondary in Punjabi
ਸੈਕੰਡਰੀ
secondary in Gujarati
ગૌણ, સેકન્ડરી
secondary in Odia
ମାଧ୍ଯ଼ମିକ
secondary in Nepali
माध्यमिक, सेकेन्डरी
secondary in Arabic
ثَانَوِي Thānawī
secondary in Indonesian
sekunder
secondary in Vietnamese
thứ hai, thứ nhì, thứ cấp

Examples of secondary in a sentence

  • That’s an affirmative Houston, the space shuttle has lost the secondary thrusters.
  • Some amount of basic geography is part of any good curriculum for primary and secondary education.
  • At the end of Primary 6 students can promote directly to the secondary section of SIS.

All 40 example sentences with secondary

Synonyms of secondary

Antonyms

Forms of secondary

Adjective
comparativemore secondary
superlativemost secondary
Noun
pluralsecondaries

Plural of secondary: secondaries

Origin of secondary

From Middle English secundarie, from Latin secundārius (“of the second class or quality”), from secundus (whence the English second) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary), equivalent to second + -ary; compare the French secondaire, the Italian secondario, the Occitan secundari, the Portuguese secundario, and the Spanish secundario.

Words formed from secondary

Phrases with secondary

58 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about secondary

What does secondary mean?
Secondary means next in order to the first or primary; of second place in origin, rank, etc.
What is secondary in Hindi?
Secondary in Hindi is द्वितीय (dvitīya), दूसरा (dūsrā). See Secondary meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is secondary?
Secondary can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce secondary?
Secondary is pronounced /ˈsɛkənd(ə)ɹɪ/ (UK).

Words near secondary in the dictionary

  1. second-wavers
  2. secondable
  3. secondaries
  4. secondarily
  5. secondariness
  6. secondary
  7. secondary accent
  8. secondary accents
  9. secondary action
  10. secondary actions
  11. secondary alcohol

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: secondary (page history and authors); secondary (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); secondary (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); secondary (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); secondary (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); secondary (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); secondary (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); secondary (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); secondary (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); secondary (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-us-secondary.ogg.

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