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   Sec·ond·ar·y

   /ˈsekənˌderē/

   

   adjective

   • 1. coming after, less important than, or resulting from someone or something else that is primary: "the plot is of secondary importance: what matters most is the relationships between the characters" Similar subordinatelesserlowerlower-levelminorperipheralincidentaltangentialmarginalancillarysubsidiarysubservientnonessentialinessentialof little accountunimportantless importantindirectnonprimaryderivedderivativeresultingresultantconcomitantaccompanyingconsequentialcontingentsecondhandalternativespareextraadditionalanotherbackupsupportingrelieffallbacksubstituteauxiliaryalternateOpposite primarycentralprimarydirectprimarymain
   • ▪ relating to education for children from the age of eleven to sixteen or eighteen: British "a secondary school"
   • 2. (of an organic compound) having its functional group located on a carbon atom which is bonded to two other carbon atoms.
   • ▪ (chiefly of amines) derived from ammonia by replacement of two hydrogen atoms by organic groups.
   • 3. denoting or relating to organisms in a particular community that belong to the second trophic level among its consumers, and consume primary consumers: "when a bear eats a plant-eating rodent, the bear is functioning as a secondary consumer"
   • 4. relating to or denoting the output side of a device using electromagnetic induction, especially in a transformer: "the primary and secondary coils of the transformer"
   • ▪ having a reversible chemical reaction and therefore able to store energy: "the lead-acid accumulator used in cars consists of secondary cells"
   • 5. former term for Mesozoic

   noun

   • 1. a secondary coil or winding in an electrical transformer.
   • 2. a secondary feather.
   • 3. the Secondary or Mesozoic era. dated
   • 4. the players in the defensive backfield, or the area these players cover.

   Word Origin late Middle English: from Latin secundarius ‘of the second quality or class’, from secundus (see second1).

   Derivatives

   • 1. secondariness noun

   Scrabble Points: 15

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