secondary

 
Pronunciation: /ˈsɛk(ə)nd(ə)ri/

adjective

  • 1coming after, less important than, or resulting from someone or something else that is primary: luck plays a role, but it’s ultimately secondary to local knowledge
  • relating to education for children from the age of eleven to sixteen or eighteen: a secondary school
  • having a reversible chemical reaction and therefore able to store energy: the lead-acid accumulator used in cars consists of secondary cells
  • 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
  • 2 (Secondary) Geologyformer term for Mesozoic
  • 3 Chemistry (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.

noun (plural secondaries)

  • 1short for:
  • British a secondary school.
  • Ornithology a secondary feather.
  • a secondary coil or winding in an electrical transformer.
  • 2 (the Secondary) Geology, dated the Secondary or Mesozoic era.

Derivatives

secondarily

adverb

secondariness

noun

Origin:

late Middle English: from Latin secundarius 'of the second quality or class', from secundus (see second1)