second string

See synonyms for: second stringsecond stringersecondstring on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. Sports. the squad of players available either individually or as a team to replace or relieve those who start a game.

  2. a secondary position, status, or group, as in a level of corporate management.

Origin of second string

1
1635–45 in sense “backup, resort,” alluding to a second bowstring; 1860–65, applied to racehorses; 1950–55, to sports teams

Other words from second string

  • second-string, adjective
  • second-stringer, noun

Words Nearby second string

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use second string in a sentence

  • Any second-string fellow that looks as if he was being held back?

    Quarter-Back Bates | Ralph Henry Barbour
  • I suppose Driscoll wants to bring him around for second-string man.

    Center Rush Rowland | Ralph Henry Barbour
  • Nor was it the second-string outfit of the Moguls that would come.

    Local Color | Irvin S. Cobb

British Dictionary definitions for second string

second string

noun
  1. mainly British an alternative course of action, etc, intended to come into use should the first fail (esp in the phrase a second string to one's bow)

  2. a substitute or reserve player or team

adjectivesecond-string mainly US and Canadian
  1. sport

    • being a substitute player

    • being the second-ranked player of a team in an individual sport

  2. second-rate or inferior

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012