Origin: Latin suffix -ary
Secondary has 9 different meanings across 2 categories:
the defensive football players who line up behind the linemen
"The coach yelled at the secondary to tighten their coverage after the quarterback rolled out to his right."
coil such that current is induced in it by passing a current through the primary coil
"The engineer adjusted the secondary coil so that electricity flowed through it whenever the primary coil carried a surge of current."
Any flight feather attached to the ulna (forearm) of a bird.
"The ornithologist carefully extracted the secondary feathers from the raven's wing before examining its skeletal structure."
In plain English: A secondary is something that comes after or is less important than the main thing.
"The secondary was injured during the game but will miss the next match."
being of second rank or importance or value; not direct or immediate
"the stone will be hauled to a secondary crusher"
"a secondary source"
"a secondary issue"
"secondary streams"
inferior in rank or status
"the junior faculty"
"a lowly corporal"
"petty officialdom"
"a subordinate functionary"
belonging to a lower class or rank
"The secondary market for luxury cars often sells vehicles from lesser-known brands at much lower prices than their premium counterparts."
Next in order to the first or primary; of second place in origin, rank, etc.
"Although the main character stole the show, the secondary plotlines provided a necessary backdrop for the story's development."
In plain English: Secondary means coming after something else or being less important than the main thing.
"The secondary school is located just outside of town."
Usage: Use secondary to describe something that comes after or is less important than a main subject, such as a backup plan or minor symptoms alongside an illness. Avoid confusing it with "tertiary," which refers specifically to the third item in a sequence rather than any subsequent rank.
The word secondary comes from Latin secundarius, which originally meant "of the second class or quality." It entered English through Middle English as a direct borrowing related to the root of the modern word second.