second
part of speech
noun, adjective, adverb, verb (second, seconds, seconded); ordinal number (2nd)
meaning for a pupil
1) A second is a very short unit of time. A minute has 60 seconds. tree →
2) Second means number 2 in order, after the first. tree →
3) «A second» in speech means a very short time: «Wait a second». tree →
4) Seconds are a second helping of food. tree →
5) To second an idea is to say you agree with it in a meeting. tree →
6) A second is also a unit for angles: 60 seconds make one minute of a degree. tree →
7) (casual) «Sec» and «a sec» mean a short time: «hang on a sec», «2 secs»; «seconds?» asks for more food. tree →
8) (casual) «Seconds» are also goods sold cheap because they have small faults. tree →
9) (formal) «Subsequent» and «the latter» are stiff words for second in order; «second» as a verb (pronounced «se-COND», UK) means to move a worker to another job for a while. tree →
sense in the lessons
As a unit of time: stopwatches, races, timers; 60 seconds = 1 minute. As an order word: the second day, second place, second grade, second floor. Everyday phrases: «just a second», «in a split second», «second-hand» (used before), «on second thoughts», «second best». Science: speed in meters per second. In casual talk: «gimme a sec», «back in 2 secs» (not exact). In the exam voice: «on the subsequent day», «the latter of the two». Phrases: «second to none» (the best), «second nature», «second chance».
examples
- He ran 100 m in 15 seconds. tree →
- A minute has 60 seconds. tree →
- On the second day she read 20 pages. tree →
- She came second in the race. tree →
- Wait a second, I can't find my shoe. tree →
- Can I have seconds, please? The soup is lovely. tree →
- The second hand on the clock moves once each second. tree →
- Light travels very fast, about 300,000 km in one second. tree →
- We bought a second-hand bike for half the price. tree →
- hang on a sec, my phone's on 2% (casual) tree →
- Wait a bloody second, you said 5 not 6! (rough) tree →
- On the subsequent day a further 20 pages were read; determine the total for the two days. (formal exam) tree →
note
As a unit it may need changing: minutes × 60 = seconds. Written «s» or «sec». As an order word it is 2nd and points to the second event or item. Trap: «the second day» is order, not an amount of 2 days. Trap: «second-hand» means used before, not a part of a clock (but the second hand of a clock is the thin fast hand). «Seconds» of food means more food. Trap: casual «a sec» or «2 secs» is not a real time to compute with. Formal «the subsequent day» = the second (next) day.
In the corpora
- Example: in a café in Toronto, Mum taps her phone on the reader and the coffee is paid in a second.
- One coat of paint often looks patchy, so a second coat is painted on once the first is dry.
- In Manchester, Mum sits with the phone at 7.59, ready to ring the surgery the second it opens.
- A few seconds of video of two brothers walking together does not tell you whether they have made up.
- Screenshots of messages can be faked in seconds, and private messages are private even if they are real.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «second» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.