secondhand
/ˌsɛk(ə)n(d)ˈhænd/
secondhand adjective: not new; previously owned and used by another.
Adjective
secondhand (not comparable)
- Not new; previously owned and used by another.
- Synonyms:
- used, preloved, pre-owned, hand-me-down
- Dealing in such merchandise.
- Indirect; from a secondary source; not firsthand.
- In the light of recent history it is somewhat curious that this decisive power of the professional secondhand dealers in ideas should not yet be more generally recognized.1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 417
- What's love got to do, got to do with it? / What's love but a secondhand emotion?1984, “What’s Love Got To Do With It”, performed by Tina Turner
- Inhaled from the air near someone else smoking.
- exposure to secondhand smoke from cigarette-smoking colleagues
Noun
secondhand (uncountable)
- Secondhand goods (especially clothes) collectively.
- Childrenswear is now the fastest growing sector of secondhand. […] The huge increase in the market for childrenswear shows another way in which older generations are getting into secondhand.2023 March 12, Lauren Cochrane, “Cheap, cool and kind to nature: how secondhand became UK fashion’s main attraction”, in The Observer
Adverb
secondhand (not comparable)
- In a used or previously-owned condition.
- It was almost an article of faith with McEwen never to buy new if he could buy secondhand.1996, Peter Golding, Black Jack McEwen: Political Gladiator, →ISBN, page 50
- He glanced back at the Jeep, which he'd bought secondhand a dozen years ago and now, fifteen years old, was gaining on "classic" status.2004, Ruth Doan MacDougall, Henrietta Snow, →ISBN, page 47
- Indirectly.
secondhand meaning in Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati and Arabic
secondhand in Telugu
- సెకండ్హ్యాండ్
secondhand in Kannada
- ಸೆಕೆಂಡ್ಹ್ಯಾಂಡ್
secondhand in Gujarati
- સેકન્ડહેન્ડ
secondhand in Arabic
- not new; previously owned and used by another
- مُسْتَعْمَل mustaʕmal
More languagesFewer languages
- secondhand in Indonesian
- bekas
- secondhand in Persian
- دست دوم dast dovvom
- secondhand in Thai
- มือสอง mʉʉ-sɔ̌ɔng
Examples of secondhand in a sentence
- I bought her secondhand, but she's a good little goer.
- To replace my first (secondhand sit-up-and-beg) bike, he insisted that I had another, bigger one.
- If you've picked up a secondhand one, you should invest $4.00 for a microwave leak tester.
Synonyms of secondhand
Forms of secondhand
| alternative form | second-hand |
|---|---|
| alternative form | second hand |
| alternative form | secondhanded |
| alternative form | second-handed |
| alternative form | 2ndhand |
Origin of secondhand
From second + hand.
Words formed from secondhand
Phrases with secondhand
Words that rhyme with secondhand
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- outstand
- overhand
- bestand
- gland
- unscanned
- disband
- grand
- offhand
- unmanned
- unplanned
- aband
- aland
- fanned
- firsthand
- lotus land
- lotusland
- misbrand
- planned
- redemand
- reland
- repand
- scanned
- shand
- tanned
- thirdhand
- withstand
- 2ndhand
- astrand
- at second hand
- banned
- counterdemand
- desand
- fand
- grande
- haircut band
- hand
- interstrand
- manned
- misunderstand
- multiplicand
- nonbrand
- operand
- overmanned
- overplanned
- panned
- preplanned
- rebrand
- replanned
Questions about secondhand
- What does secondhand mean?
- Secondhand means not new; previously owned and used by another.
- What is secondhand in Telugu?
- Secondhand in Telugu is సెకండ్హ్యాండ్. See Secondhand meaning in Telugu.
- What part of speech is secondhand?
- Secondhand can be an adjective, a noun or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce secondhand?
- Secondhand is pronounced /ˌsɛk(ə)n(d)ˈhænd/.
Words near secondhand in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: secondhand (page history and authors); secondhand (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); secondhand (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); secondhand (Gujarati, 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-second-hand.wav, en-us-secondhand.oga.
Cite this entry: “secondhand.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/secondhand. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.