second-rate

American  

[sek-uhnd-reyt] / ˈsɛk əndˈreɪt /

adjective

1. of lesser or minor quality, importance, or the like.

   a second-rate poet.

2. inferior; mediocre.

   a second-rate performance.

   Synonyms:

   commonplace, pedestrian, undistinguished, inadequate, middling

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second-rate British  

adjective

1. not of the highest quality; mediocre

2. second in importance, etc

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Other Word Forms

• second-rateness noun
• second-rater noun
• secondrater noun

Etymology

Origin of second-rate

First recorded in 1660–70

Example Sentences

With Netflix’s algorithmic approach and its need to keep its shelves overflowing with mostly second-rate material, might not the result veer toward AI slop?

From The Wall Street Journal

China’s most famous AI export has already shown that it can close that gap with second-rate hardware.

From The Wall Street Journal

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

It was an Ominous Landscape, painted by the same second-rate artist whose portrait of Agatha Swanburne hung in a secret gallery at the British Museum . . . and both were signed with the letter A. .

From Literature

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

Related Words

• crummy
• inferior