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second-rate. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
second-rate, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
second-rate in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
second-rate you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Adjective
second-rate (not comparable)
- (UK, military, nautical, historical) Of a Royal Navy ship of the line in the Napoleonic Era: having 80–98 guns across three gun decks, a complement of 700–750, and weighing approximately 2,200 tons burthen.
- (idiomatic) Of mediocre quality; not first-rate.
1971, Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150—750, Thames & Hudson LTD, published 2013, →ISBN, page 53:‘Revelation’, to a philosopher such as Plotinus, was not merely irrational: it led to second-rate counterfeits of traditional academic philosophical culture. It was as if the inhabitants of an underdeveloped country were to seek to catch up with western technology by claiming to have learnt nuclear physics through dreams and oracles.
1888, Rudyard Kipling, A Second-rate Woman:They are intrigued by Mrs Deelville; she is dowdy, languid-voiced, and ill-dressed, in every way appearing second-rate, who nonetheless - rather tiresomely - seems to have the knack of attracting men.
Translations
of mediocre quality
- Bulgarian: второка́чествен (bg) (vtorokáčestven), второразре́ден (bg) (vtororazréden)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 二流 (zh) (èrliú)
- Dutch: tweedeklas (nl)
- Finnish: sekunda (fi)
- French: de second ordre (fr), de second rang
- Georgian: მეორეხარისხოვანი (meorexarisxovani), მეორე ხარისხის (meore xarisxis), მდარე (mdare), საშუალო (sašualo)
- Italian: scadente (it)
- Japanese: 二流 (ja) (niryū)
- Latin: secundārius
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: annenrangs
- Polish: drugorzędny (pl) m, pośledni (pl) m
- Spanish: de baja estofa (es), de chichinabo (es), de pacotilla (es), de tres al cuarto (es), segundón (es)
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See also
Noun
second-rate (plural second-rates)
- (UK, military, nautical, historical) A second-rate ship of the line.
See also
Anagrams