Secondhand

/ˌsɛk(ə)n(d)ˈhænd/ · adjective

Meaning

(of goods) Not new; previously owned and used by another..

Definitions by Sense

1. (of goods) Not new; previously owned and used by another.
2. (of a dealer) Dealing in such merchandise.
3. (figurative) Indirect; from a secondary source; not firsthand.
4. (of cigarette or cigar smoke) Inhaled from the air near someone else smoking.
5. Secondhand goods (especially clothes) collectively.
6. In a used or previously-owned condition.
7. Indirectly.

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

Childrenswear is now the fastest growing sector of secondhand. […] The huge increase in the market for childrenswear shows another way in which older generations are getting into secondhand.

It was almost an article of faith with McEwen never to buy new if he could buy secondhand.

Synonyms for secondhand

Antonyms for secondhand

Related Words

Word Forms

• second-hand
• second hand
• secondhanded
• second-handed
• 2ndhand

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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