second-rate
Americanadjective
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of lesser or minor quality, importance, or the like.
a second-rate poet.
-
inferior; mediocre.
a second-rate performance.
- Synonyms:
- commonplace, pedestrian, undistinguished, inadequate, middling
adjective
-
not of the highest quality; mediocre
-
second in importance, etc
Other Word Forms
- second-rateness noun
- second-rater noun
- secondrater noun
Etymology
Origin of second-rate
First recorded in 1660–70
Explanation
Something that's not well-made or high quality is second-rate. If you buy a cheap second-rate car, you may end up spending a lot on repairs instead. Second-rate things are mediocre, shabby, or inferior. A second-rate production of Hamlet won't be as well done as the Royal Shakespeare Company's performance in Stratford-upon-Avon. And a second-rate cup of coffee might need a lot more cream and sugar than a first-rate cup, but it will cost much less. The adjective second-rate was first used to describe ships, from the British Navy's official classification system.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They also require the world to shower prizes on them for their bumbling, second-rate work.
From Salon • Jan. 14, 2026
China’s most famous AI export has already shown that it can close that gap with second-rate hardware.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 9, 2025
In the span of just a few months, Google has fought off concerns that AI would kill its Search business and has transformed Gemini from a second-rate chatbot into a serious competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 22, 2025
Mamdani's attempt to break into the competitive world of professional music did not last, with the performer-turned-politician calling himself a second-rate artist.
From Barron's • Oct. 26, 2025
If the Mona Lisa had been something else, anything else—a stolen purse, a set of second-rate jewels—the thief would have been found far sooner.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
