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.

Maybe the second-rateness is not so surprising either.

From Salon • Aug. 3, 2016

A sense of second-rateness creeps in early and lingers.

From New York Times • Jul. 18, 2013

I had been thrown up out of the freemasonry of the preliminary struggle into a kind of backwater of established second-rateness, where there were also second-rate manners and morals and social perceptions.

From A Woman of Genius by Austin, Mary Hunter

It seemed a monster meeting of Potterites at play—mediocrity, second-rateness, humbug, muddle, cant, cheap stunts—the room was full of it all.

From Potterism A Tragi-Farcical Tract by Macaulay, Rose, Dame

Recognizing Mr. Galsworthy’s genius for the realistic representation of men and women, it must not be blinded by that genius to the essential second-rateness and sentimentality of much of his presentation of ideas.

From The Art of Letters by Lynd, Robert