SECONDARY

Pronunciation (US):

• SECONDARY (noun)
  The noun SECONDARY has 2 senses:

1. the defensive football players who line up behind the linemen
2. coil such that current is induced in it by passing a current through the primary coil

  Familiarity information: SECONDARY used as a noun is rare.

• SECONDARY (adjective)
  The adjective SECONDARY has 5 senses:

1. being of second rank or importance or value; not direct or immediate
2. inferior in rank or status
3. depending on or incidental to what is original or primary
4. not of major importance
5. belonging to a lower class or rank

  Familiarity information: SECONDARY used as an adjective is common.

• SECONDARY (noun)

Meaning:

The defensive football players who line up behind the linemen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("secondary" is a kind of...):

formation (an arrangement of people or things acting as a unit)

Meronyms (members of "secondary"):

back (the position of a player on a football team who is stationed behind the line of scrimmage)

Holonyms ("secondary" is a member of...):

eleven; football team (a team that plays football)

Meaning:

Coil such that current is induced in it by passing a current through the primary coil

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

secondary coil; secondary winding; secondary

Hypernyms ("secondary" is a kind of...):

coil (reactor consisting of a spiral of insulated wire that introduces inductance into a circuit)

Holonyms ("secondary" is a part of...):

transformer (an electrical device by which alternating current of one voltage is changed to another voltage)

• SECONDARY (adjective)

Meaning:

Being of second rank or importance or value; not direct or immediate

Context examples:

the stone will be hauled to a secondary crusher / a secondary source / a secondary issue / secondary streams

Similar:

standby (ready for emergency use)

thirdhand (derived from what is primary or original by two intermediate steps)

tributary (of a stream; flowing into a larger stream)

substitute; utility (capable of substituting in any of several positions on a team)

vicarious (experienced at secondhand)

second-string; substitute (being a replacement or substitute for a regular member of a team)

secondhand (derived from what is primary or original; not firsthand)

indirect (not as a direct effect or consequence)

collateral (accompany, concomitant)

auxiliary; subsidiary; supplemental; supplementary (functioning in a subsidiary or supporting capacity)

alternate; alternative (allowing a choice)

Also:

unoriginal (not original; not being or productive of something fresh and unusual)

inessential; unessential (not basic or fundamental)

Antonym:

primary (of first rank or importance or value; direct and immediate rather than secondhand)

Meaning:

Inferior in rank or status

Synonyms:

subaltern; junior-grade; lower-ranking; petty; lowly; secondary; inferior; subordinate

Context examples:

the junior faculty / a lowly corporal / petty officialdom / a subordinate functionary

Similar:

junior (younger; lower in rank; shorter in length of tenure or service)

Meaning:

Depending on or incidental to what is original or primary

Context example:

a secondary infection

Similar:

incident; incidental ((sometimes followed by 'to') minor or casual or subordinate in significance or nature or occurring as a chance concomitant or consequence)

Meaning:

Not of major importance

Context example:

played a secondary role in world events

Similar:

minor (of lesser importance or stature or rank)

Meaning:

Belonging to a lower class or rank

Similar:

low-level; subordinate (lower in rank or importance)