second-rate en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Meanings
- (UK, historical, not-comparable) 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.
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(idiomatic, not-comparable) Of mediocre quality; not first-rate.
‘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.
1971, Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150—750, Thames & Hudson LTD, published 2013, →ISBN, page 53: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.
1888, Rudyard Kipling, A Second-rate Woman:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| second rate | alternative | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Relateds
fifth-rate · substandard · first-rate · second-class · subpar · mediocre · sixth-rate · third-rate · fourth-rate
Synonyms
subpar · low-rent · BTEC · cheap · scrubby · trashy · lousy · rinky-dink · drecky · cruddy · base · pound-shop · crap · cheapshit · slight · slim · craptabulous · crapperific · coffee-and · crappo · low-grade · third-rate · low · under par · shit · crappy · trash · crummy · craptastic · cheesy · pathetic · woeful · poor · rubbish · bum · garbage · tenth-rate · god-awful · made in China · fourth-rate · medium-quality · ticky-tacky · one-star · shoddy · flimsy · wretched · tin-pot · shite · craptacular · naughty · second-rate · low-quality · inferior · shitty · ropy · slazy · mid · gash · sad · poor man's · inferior · bottom-shelf · chintzy · cheap and nasty · schlocky · punk · bad · ass · second-class · dogwater · below par · substandard
Translations (23)
nb annenrangs (of mediocre quality) · es de tres al cuarto (of mediocre quality) · bg второкачествен (of mediocre quality) · ka მდარე (of mediocre quality) · fi sekunda (of mediocre quality) · es segundón (of mediocre quality) · bg второразре́ден (of mediocre quality) · ru второсортный (of mediocre quality) · cmn 二流 (of mediocre quality) · es de pacotilla (of mediocre quality) · pl drugorzędny (of mediocre quality) · la secundārius (of mediocre quality) · pl pośledni (of mediocre quality) · ka მეორეხარისხოვანი (of mediocre quality) · it scadente (of mediocre quality) · ka მეორე ხარისხის (of mediocre quality) · ja 二流 (of mediocre quality) · ka საშუალო (of mediocre quality) · fr de second ordre (of mediocre quality) · nl tweedeklas (of mediocre quality) · fr de second rang (of mediocre quality) · es de chichinabo (of mediocre quality) · es de baja estofa (of mediocre quality)