SECONDARY
Dictionary entry overview: What does secondary mean?
• 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.
Dictionary entry details
• 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)
