secondary quality
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of secondary quality
First recorded in 1690–1700
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.
To be vivid is a secondary quality which must presuppose the first; for vividly to convey a wrong impression is only to make failure conspicuous.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 16 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson
There is no need of illustrations unless it be to call attention to a secondary quality less noticed, than those of more importance.
From Cowper by Goldwin Smith
The goods displayed in the windows are of a secondary quality, at best; and the people who throng the pavements are people who want second-rate articles.
From The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 1, August, 1851 by Various
Reason, which gets so much vulgar glorification, is, after all, a secondary quality.
From Confessions and Criticisms by Julian Hawthorne
Color is a secondary quality, therefore less important than form.
From Modern Painters Volume I (of V) by John Ruskin
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.
