Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of inferior or mediocre quality or value.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of the second rate, as to size, rank, quality, importance, or estimation: as, a second-rate ship; second-rate works; a second-rate actor.
- noun Anything that is rated or classed as second.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of the second size, rank, quality, or value.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun military, nautical, historical a British ship-of-the-line sail
warship that has 90 to 98 guns dispersed onto 3 gundecks. - adjective Of
mediocre quality, notfirst class .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective moderate to inferior in quality
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Georgia did remember, however, that being labeled a woman artist in the twenties was synonymous with being called second-rate.
Portrait of An Artist Laurie Lisle 1986
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Or will we saddle our kids with debt, second-rate jobs, impossible interest rates, and a falling standard of living?
The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010
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Or will we saddle our kids with debt, second-rate jobs, impossible interest rates, and a falling standard of living?
The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010
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Or will we saddle our kids with debt, second-rate jobs, impossible interest rates, and a falling standard of living?
The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010
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"We can make culture and journalism into second-rate activities, and spend centuries remixing the detritus of the 1960s and other eras from before individual creativity went out of fashion," he complains.
Maria Rodale: You Are Not a Gadget... Are You? Maria Rodale 2011
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"We can make culture and journalism into second-rate activities, and spend centuries remixing the detritus of the 1960s and other eras from before individual creativity went out of fashion," he complains.
Maria Rodale: You Are Not a Gadget... Are You? Maria Rodale 2011
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"We can make culture and journalism into second-rate activities, and spend centuries remixing the detritus of the 1960s and other eras from before individual creativity went out of fashion," he complains.
Maria Rodale: You Are Not a Gadget... Are You? Maria Rodale 2011
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Some of the biggest housing market blow-ups came courtesy of second-rate lenders that sold the loans to other borrowers—with most of the riskiest stuff backed by the U.S. government.
'Skin in the Game' 2011
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"We can make culture and journalism into second-rate activities, and spend centuries remixing the detritus of the 1960s and other eras from before individual creativity went out of fashion," he complains.
Maria Rodale: You Are Not a Gadget... Are You? Maria Rodale 2011
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"We can make culture and journalism into second-rate activities, and spend centuries remixing the detritus of the 1960s and other eras from before individual creativity went out of fashion," he complains.
Maria Rodale: You Are Not a Gadget... Are You? Maria Rodale 2011
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