definitions

second fiddle

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR second fiddle ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a secondary role: to play second fiddle to another person.
a person serving in a subsidiary capacity, especially to one immediately superior.

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RELATED WORDS

understudy, benchwarmer

Nearby words

second cuneiform bone, second derivative, second division, second empire, second estate, second fiddle, second floor, second generation, second growth, second hand, second heart sound

Origin of second fiddle

First recorded in 1825–35
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for second fiddle

  • Bill declined to play the second-fiddle parts; he took himself out of Mary's orchestra entirely.

    Fore!|Charles Emmett Van Loan

  • He found it hard to believe a man of my sort, so self-assured, would stand the truth from a man of his second-fiddle sort.

    The Deluge|David Graham Phillips

  • Mrs. Fox-Darriel found the rle of second-fiddle a little dull; still, it was well worth while to play it.

    The Confounding of Camelia|Anne Douglas Sedgwick

British Dictionary definitions for second fiddle

second fiddle

noun informal

  1. the second violin in a string quartet or one of the second violins in an orchestra
  2. the musical part assigned to such an instrument
a secondary status
a person who has a secondary status
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

Idioms and Phrases with second fiddle

second fiddle

see play second fiddle.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.