secondhand
/ˌsɛk(ə)n(d)ˈhænd/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.05 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Not new; previously owned and used by another.
adj
Dealing in such merchandise.
adj
Indirect; from a secondary source; not firsthand.
adj
Inhaled from the air near someone else smoking.
adv
Example Sentences
- "In the light of recent history it is somewhat curious that this decisive power of the professional secondhand dealers in ideas should not yet be more generally recognized."
- "What's love got to do, got to do with it? / What's love but a secondhand emotion?"
- "So nearly every name comes from a second hand source. The exception to this rule has been the vigilantes themselves. Rube Mathis and Jack Wells, both admitted to participating, and Mathis identified his brother."
- "However, Partridge’s information is second-hand, and requires verification."
- "The relation of Tristram's death is thus distanced from the narrative to which it belongs, and it is also distanced in that we do not see it happen with our own eyes, but hear of it by a second-hand report which introduces it incidentally, not for its own sake."
- "exposure to secondhand smoke from cigarette-smoking colleagues"