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second-rate

[ sek-uhnd-reyt ]

/ ˈsɛk əndˈreɪt /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR second-rate ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

of lesser or minor quality, importance, or the like: a second-rate poet.

inferior; mediocre: a second-rate performance.

Origin of second-rate

First recorded in 1660–70

SYNONYMS FOR second-rate

2 middling, inadequate, undistinguished, pedestrian, commonplace.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR second-rate ON THESAURUS.COM

OTHER WORDS FROM second-rate

sec·ond-rate·ness, noun sec·ond·rat·er, noun

Words nearby second-rate

second-foot, second-generation, second-guess, second-hand, second-homer, second-rate, second-story, second-story man, second-strike, secondary, secondary abdominal pregnancy

Example sentences from the Web for second-rate

The place begins to feel like a second-rate Madame Tussauds.

Pablo Escobar’s Private Prison Is Now Run by Monks for Senior Citizens |Jeff Campagna |June 7, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
At a certain point, the Christie staffers begin to sound like characters in a second-rate Tarantino script.

Is This the Beginning of the End for Chris Christie? |Jamelle Bouie |January 8, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Or did the poor guy have to read a second-rate novel or a false-sounding biography in his last hours on earth?

Tom Reiss: How I Write |Noah Charney |August 14, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
I used to be obsessed with the second-rate films of Alfred Hitchcock.

Charles Baxter: How I Write |Noah Charney |August 7, 2013 |DAILY BEAST

When Smith phoned the American Embassy in Rome to ask for assistance, he says the couple was treated like second-rate citizens.

Abandoned Ship: New Book Details Honeymooners’ Costa Concordia Nightmare |Barbie Latza Nadeau |January 10, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
Second-rate man Boswell may have been, as he himself so oft admits, yet as a biographer he stands first in the front rank.

Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 5 (of 14) |Elbert Hubbard
Otherwise, to what use could these second-rate horses be put?

Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, October, 1880 |Various
Let us see what these second-rate schemers make of it all, she said.

The Angel of Pain |E. F. Benson
A pretty good culinary apple of second-rate quality; in use during October; but scarcely worth cultivation.

British Pomology |Robert Hogg
Beatrix playing comedy was judged to be a second-rate actress.

Beatrix |Honore de Balzac

British Dictionary definitions for second-rate

second-rate

adjective

not of the highest quality; mediocre

second in importance, etc

Derived forms of second-rate

second-rater, noun