regular tertiaries
plural noun Ecclesiastical.
See under tertiary(def 5).
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Nearby words
- regular bevel,
- regular checking account,
- regular flower,
- regular guy,
- regular lay,
- regular verb,
- regular year,
- regularity,
- regularize,
- regularly
tertiary
[ tur-shee-er-ee, tur-shuh-ree ]
/ ˈtɜr ʃiˌɛr i, ˈtɜr ʃə ri /
adjective
noun, plural ter·ti·ar·ies.
Origin of tertiary
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Tertiary
/ (ˈtɜːʃərɪ) /
adjective
of, denoting, or formed in the first period of the Cenozoic era, which lasted for 63 million years, during which mammals became dominant
noun
the Tertiary the Tertiary period or rock system, divided into Palaeocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene epochs or series
tertiary
/ (ˈtɜːʃərɪ) /
adjective
noun plural -tiaries
Also called: tertial ornithol rare any of the tertiary feathers
RC Church a member of a Third Order
Word Origin for tertiary
C16: from Latin tertiārius containing one third, from tertius third
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
tertiary
1650s, "of the third order, rank, degree, etc.," from Latin tertiarius "of or pertaining to a third," from tertius "third, a third," from root of tres "three" (see three). The geological sense (with capital T-) of "era after the Mesozoic" (which formerly was called the Secondary) is attested from 1794, after Italian terziari, used in this sense 1760 by Italian geologist Giovanni Arduino (1714-1795).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
tertiary
[ tûr′shē-ĕr′ē ]
adj.
Third in place, order, degree, or rank.
Of or relating to salts of acids containing three replaceable hydrogen atoms.
Of or relating to organic compounds in which a group is bound to three nonelementary radicals.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
tertiary
[ tûr′shē-ĕr′ē ]
Noun
Tertiary. The first period of the Cenozoic Era, from about 65 to 2 million years ago. During this time the continents took on their present form, and the climate changed from being warmer and wetter, in the early part of the period, to being drier and cooler in the later part. Mammals replaced dinosaurs as the dominant form of terrestrial animal life, and many modern types of flowering plants, insects, mollusks, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds appeared. The Tertiary is subdivided into the Paleogene and the Neogene, although these terms are not as widely used as are the names of the epochs that constitute them. See Chart at geologic time.
Adjective
- Relating to or having a carbon atom that is attached to three other carbon atoms in a molecule.
- Relating to an organic molecule, such as an alcohol, in which the functional group is attached to a tertiary carbon.
Relating to an advanced level of medical care, usually provided by subspecialists after the delivery of primary medical care. Compare primary secondary.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.