Sec"ond*a*ri*ness, n. The state of being secondary.
Full of a girl's sweet sense of secondariness to the object of her
love.
Mrs. Oliphant.
Sec"ond*a*ry (?), a. [Cf. F. secondaire, L. secundaire. See Second, a.]
1. Succeeding next in order to the first; of second place, origin,
rank, etc.; not primary; subordinate; not of the first order or rate.
Wheresoever there is moral right on the one hand, no secondary
right can discharge it.
L'Estrange.
Two are the radical differences; the secondary differences are as
four.
Bacon.
2. Acting by deputation or delegated authority; as, the work of
secondary hands.
3. (Chem.) Possessing some quality, or having been subject to some
operation (as substitution), in the second degree; as, a secondary
salt, a secondary amine, etc. Cf. primary.
4. (Min.) Subsequent in origin; -- said of minerals produced by
alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original
rock mass; also of characters of minerals (as secondary cleavage, etc.)
developed by pressure or other causes.