second string

American  

noun

1. Sports. the squad of players available either individually or as a team to replace or relieve those who start a game.

2. a secondary position, status, or group, as in a level of corporate management.

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second string British  

noun

1. an alternative course of action, etc, intended to come into use should the first fail (esp in the phrase a second string to one's bow )

2. a substitute or reserve player or team

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adjective

1. sport

   1. being a substitute player

   2. being the second-ranked player of a team in an individual sport

2. second-rate or inferior

Other Word Forms

• second-string adjective
• second-stringer noun

Etymology

Origin of second string

1635–45 in sense “backup, resort,” alluding to a second bowstring; 1860–65, applied to racehorses; 1950–55, to sports teams

Example Sentences

Uncapped wicketkeeper-batsman Khawaja Nafay is also included in the squad after his impressive show with Pakistan's second string team in the last two years.

From Barron's • Dec. 28, 2025

“I basically played second string at ‘SC,” Ardell said.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 3, 2025

But scientists found niobium difficult to engineer as a core qubit component, and so it was relegated to the second string on Team Superconducting Qubit.

From Science Daily • Feb. 26, 2024

We don't have a good enough second string for that yet.

From BBC • Mar. 16, 2023

Three span later I was trying to play Waiting While it Rains when a second string broke.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss