second-rate

[ sek-uhnd-reyt ]

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

second-rate

adjective

1. not of the highest quality; mediocre
2. second in importance, etc

Derived Forms

• ˈsecond-ˈrater, noun

Other Words From

• second-rateness noun
• second·rater noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of second-rate¹

First recorded in 1660–70

Example Sentences

The place begins to feel like a second-rate Madame Tussauds.

From The Daily Beast

At a certain point, the Christie staffers begin to sound like characters in a second-rate Tarantino script.

From The Daily Beast

Or did the poor guy have to read a second-rate novel or a false-sounding biography in his last hours on earth?

From The Daily Beast

I used to be obsessed with the second-rate films of Alfred Hitchcock.

From The Daily Beast

When Smith phoned the American Embassy in Rome to ask for assistance, he says the couple was treated like second-rate citizens.

From The Daily Beast

Down the block, his victim headed into a distinctly second-rate apartment hotel.

From Project Gutenberg

First off, it was one of those second-rate places that boasted no doorman.

From Project Gutenberg

They had already bought much of the best talent in the country, and they wasted no time on the second-rate.

From Project Gutenberg

I have seen men fall out and lose themselves among the army of crooks that throng the second-rate shows.

From Project Gutenberg

My only fear was that the gallery might mistake his rather second-rate people for gentlefolk.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• crummy
• inferior