second-rate
- of lesser or minor quality, importance, or the like: a second-rate poet.
- inferior; mediocre: a second-rate performance.
Origin of second-rate
Synonyms for second-rate
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comRelated Words for second-rate
crummy, inferior, mediocre, cheap, deficient, inadequate, poor, rotten, shabby, shoddy, substandard, unacceptable, unsatisfactory, low-grade, second-class, second-best, commonExamples from the Web for second-rate
Contemporary Examples of second-rate
The place begins to feel like a second-rate Madame Tussauds.
At a certain point, the Christie staffers begin to sound like characters in a second-rate Tarantino script.
Or did the poor guy have to read a second-rate novel or a false-sounding biography in his last hours on earth?
I used to be obsessed with the second-rate films of Alfred Hitchcock.
When Smith phoned the American Embassy in Rome to ask for assistance, he says the couple was treated like second-rate citizens.
Abandoned Ship: New Book Details Honeymooners’ Costa Concordia NightmareBarbie Latza Nadeau
January 10, 2013
Historical Examples of second-rate
They don't even know of the second-rate people or the third rate.
Changing WindsSt. John G. Ervine
It was a second-rate theatrical journal, still damp from the press.
The ChristianHall Caine
Otherwise, to what use could these second-rate horses be put?
It is strange how Dante has been left to second-rate interpreters!
Visions and RevisionsJohn Cowper Powys
Obviously, here in America we have a sympathetic tolerance for the "second-rate."
The Building of a BookVarious
second-rate
- not of the highest quality; mediocre
- second in importance, etc
Word Origin and History for second-rate
1660s, originally of ships; see rate (n.).