second [2] (seconds plural & 3rd person present) (seconding present participle) (seconded past tense & past participle ) (COMING AFTER SOMETHING ELSE)
Please look at category 13 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1 ord The second item in a series is the one that you count as number two.
...the second day of his visit to Delhi., ...their second child..., My son just got married for the second time..., She was the second of nine children., ...King Charles the Second..., Britain came second in the Prix St Georges Derby.
2 ord Second is used before superlative adjectives to indicate that there is only one thing better or larger than the thing you are referring to.
ORD adj-superl
The party is still the second strongest in Italy., ...the second-largest city in the United States.
3 adv You say second when you want to make a second point or give a second reason for something.
ADV cl
The soil is depleted first by having crops grown in it and second by natural weathering and bacterial action.
4 n-count In Britain, an uppersecond is a good honours degree and a lowersecond is an average honours degree.
I then went up to Lancaster University and got an upper second.
5 n-plural If you have seconds, you have a second helping of food.
INFORMAL There's seconds if you want them.
6 n-count Seconds are goods that are sold cheaply in shops because they have slight faults.
usu pl
It's a new shop selling discounted lines and seconds.
7 n-count The seconds of someone who is taking part in a boxing match or chess tournament are the people who assist and encourage them.
usu pl
He shouted to his seconds, `I did it! I did it!'
8 verb If you second a proposal in a meeting or debate, you formally express your agreement with it so that it can then be discussed or voted on.
...Bryan Sutton, who seconded the motion against fox hunting... V n
seconder (seconders plural) n-count
Candidates need a proposer and seconder whose names are kept secret.
9 verb If you second what someone has said, you say that you agree with them or say the same thing yourself.
The Prime Minister seconded the call for discipline in a speech last week. V n
10 If you experience something at second hand, you are told about it by other people rather than experiencing it yourself.
at second hand phrase PHR after v
Most of them had only heard of the massacre at second hand.
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second-hand
11 If you say that something is second to none, you are emphasizing that it is very good indeed or the best that there is.
second to none phrase v-link PHR (emphasis)
Our scientific research is second to none.
12 If you say that something is second only to something else, you mean that only that thing is better or greater than it.
second only to sth phrase usu v-link PHR
As a major health risk hepatitis is second only to tobacco.
13
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second nature
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nature
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in the second place
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place
