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Twice vs Second - What's the difference?

twice | second |

As adverbs the difference between twice and second

is that twice is two times while second is at the second rank.

As an adjective second is

number-two; following after the first one with nothing between them. The ordinal number corresponding to the cardinal number two.

As a noun second is

one that is number two in a series.

As a verb second is

to transfer temporarily to alternative employment.

twice

English

Adverb

(-)
  • Two times.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the trip sometimes twice in a day.}}
  • * 1934 , (Santa Claus Is Coming to Town)
  • Santa Claus is coming to town. / He’s making a list, / And checking it twice , / He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice. / Santa Claus is coming to town.
  • (nonstandard, proscribed)
  • * {{quote-book, year=1826, author=John Nicholson, publisher=H.C. Carey & I. Lea
  • , title=The Operative Mechanic, and British Machinist: Being a Practical Display of the Manufactories and Mechanical Arts of the United Kingdom, volume=1 , pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=TJUAAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22twice%20as%20slow%22&pg=PA78
  • v=onepage&q=%22twice%20as%20slow%22&f=false
  • , page=78}}
    Thus it appears that if the machine is turning twice as slow as before, there is more than twice the former quantity in the rising buckets; and more will be raised in a minute by the same expenditure of power.
  • * {{quote-book, title=Domesticated Trout: How to Breed and Grow Them, year=1896, edition=fourth
  • , page=304, author=Livingston Stone , pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=IPg-AAAAYAAJ&dq=inauthor%3A%22Livingston%20Stone%22&pg=PA304
  • v=onepage&q=%22thin%20as%20a%20shad%22&f=false}}
  • You can't get anything thinner than a spring shad, unless you take a couple of them, when, of course, they will be twice as thin.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2010, title=Roman Polanski: A Life in Exile, first=Julia, last=Ain-krupa, publisher=ABC-CLIO, page=31
  • , pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=2Oeo0DmdphwC&lpg=PA31&dq=%22twice%20as%20dumb%22&pg=PA31
  • v=onepage&q=%22twice%20as%20dumb%22&f=false}}
  • Standing in the lower portion of the boat, he apologizes while Krystyna paces above him, saying that he's just like Andrzej, “only half his age and twice as dumb.”
  • In a doubled quantity or extent.
  • To a doubled degree.
  • Derived terms

    * a broken clock is right twice a day * two-time * twice as small * twice as less

    second

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) second, from (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Number-two; following after the first one with nothing between them. The ordinal number corresponding to the cardinal number two.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=20 citation , passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.
  • Next to the first in value, power, excellence, dignity, or rank; secondary; subordinate; inferior.
  • * Landor
  • May the day when we become the second people upon earth be the day of our utter extirpation.
  • Being of the same kind as one that has preceded; another.
  • * Shakespeare
  • A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel!
    Alternative forms
    * (number-two) , IInd; (in names of monarchs and popes) II
    Synonyms
    * (nonstandard) (l)
    Derived terms
    * secondary * second amendment * second base * second baseman * second-best * second cousin * second fiddle * second-guess * second hand * second imperative (Latin grammar) * second-in-command * second nature * second-storey man

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (with superlative) At the second rank.
  • Saturn is the second largest planet.
  • After the first occurrence but before the third occurrence.
  • He is batting second today.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One that is number two in a series.
  • One that is next in rank, quality, precedence, position, status, or authority.
  • The place that is next below first in a race or contest.
  • (usually in the plural) A manufactured item that, though still usable, fails to meet quality control standards.
  • They were discounted because they contained blemishes, nicks or were otherwise factory seconds .
  • (usually in the plural) An additional helping of food.
  • That was good barbecue. I hope I can get seconds .
  • A chance or attempt to achieve what should have been done the first time, usually indicating success this time around. (See second-guess.)
  • * 2003 , Sheila Ryan Wallace, The Sea Captain and His Ladies , page 22:
  • *:The policeman smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Now if you'll follow me, I'll escort you to the Victoria."
    "Oh, there's no need of that. If you'll just point me in the right direction..."
    That's what got you in trouble the first time around. You don't need a second .
  • *2009 , Paulette Jiles, Stormy Weather , page 37:
  • *:Smoky Joe ran against a Houston horse named Cherokee Chief.
    “Don't hit him,” Jeanine said to the jockey. “Maybe once. But you don't get a second .”
  • * 2011 , Karen Miller, The Innocent Mage :
  • I'll have one chance to show them that's no longer true. One chance ... and if I stumble, I'll not get a second .
  • (music) The interval between two adjacent notes in a diatonic scale (either or both of them may be raised or lowered from the basic scale via any type of accidental).
  • The second gear of an engine.
  • (baseball) Second base.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Alternative forms

    * (SI unit of time) (abbreviations) s, sec; (symbols) s (SI and non-scientific usage), sec (in non-scientific usage only) * (unit of angle) (abbreviations) arcsec,

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The SI unit of time, defined as the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of radiation corresponding to the transition between two hyperfine levels of caesium-133 in a ground state at a temperature of absolute zero and at rest; one-sixtieth of a minute.
  • A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a minute of arc or one part in 3600 of a degree.
  • A short, indeterminate amount of time.
  • I'll be there in a second .
    Synonyms
    * (unit of angle) second of arc, arcsecond * (colloquial) sec *
    Derived terms
    * leap second * millisecond * nanosecond

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (UK) To transfer temporarily to alternative employment.
  • * 1998 — , (Dreamstone Moon) , ch 9
  • Daniel had still been surprised, however, to find the lab area deserted, all the scientists apparently seconded by Cleomides's military friends.
  • To assist or support; to back.
  • * Shakespeare
  • We have supplies to second our attempt.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • In human works though laboured on with pain, / A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain; / In God's, one single can its end produce, / Yet serves to second too some other use.
  • To agree as a second person to (a proposal), usually to reach a necessary quorum of two.
  • I second the motion.
  • To follow in the next place; to succeed.
  • * Fuller
  • In the method of nature, a low valley is immediately seconded with an ambitious hill.
  • * South
  • Sin is seconded with sin.
  • To climb after a lead climber.
  • Derived terms
    * secondment * secondee

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who supports another in a contest or combat, such as a dueller's assistant.
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • One who agrees in addition, or such a motion, as required in certain meetings to pass judgement etc.
  • If we want the motion to pass, we will need a second .
  • (obsolete) Aid; assistance; help.
  • * J. Fletcher
  • Give second , and my love / Is everlasting thine.