seconds

UK/ˈsɛkəndz/US/ˈsɛk.əndz/

nounB2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — second sits at #165neutral

Seconds are a second helping of the same dish. Go back for seconds, anybody for seconds, there are seconds if you want them.

It is a friendly table word and always plural whatever is on the plate. In shops the same word means goods with small faults, sold cheaply, which is a separate trade sense.

Definitions of seconds

1nounsecondsA second helping of the same dish.B2
“Three of them came back for seconds.”
- Said"Is there any chance of seconds? That was the best pie I've had."
- WrittenNobody asked for seconds of the fish, and the chef noticed.
- UsedCook enough for seconds; somebody always wants them.
- ContrastSeconds, not a helping. A helping is your first plate; seconds is coming back for more of the same. helping →
- Not thisDessert is not seconds. Seconds means the same dish again, not the next one.
- SimplyThe food is good. I want seconds.
Patternhave / ask for / go back for seconds · seconds of + noun · any seconds?

seconds is a helping.

Remember it

SECONDs → a SECOND plate of the same

The first plate was so good that you ask for a second one: seconds, please.

hooks ontosecond

Practised in In the Kitchen, Restaurant & Cafe

Practise this word

seconds in the wild

For a two-dimensional area, such as on (the surface of) a sphere, square arcminutes or seconds may be used.
Minute and second of arc
All have so far been positive leap seconds, adding a second to a UTC day; while a negative leap second is theoretically possible, it has not yet occurred.
Leap second
Because the Earth's rotational speed varies in response to climatic and geological events, UTC leap seconds are irregularly spaced and not precisely predictable.
Leap second
A minute (symbol: min) is a unit of time defined as equal to 60 seconds.
Minute
The farthest time from midnight was 17 minutes in 1991, and the closest is 85 seconds in 2026.
Doomsday Clock

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Definitions of seconds

1nounsecondsA second helping of the same dish.B2

“Three of them came back for seconds.”

Said"Is there any chance of seconds? That was the best pie I've had."
WrittenNobody asked for seconds of the fish, and the chef noticed.
UsedCook enough for seconds; somebody always wants them.
ContrastSeconds, not a helping. A helping is your first plate; seconds is coming back for more of the same. helping →
Not thisDessert is not seconds. Seconds means the same dish again, not the next one.
SimplyThe food is good. I want seconds.

Patternhave / ask for / go back for seconds · seconds of + noun · any seconds?

seconds is a helping.