second class
1
3.0
- adverb
:
en segunda clase
- It is a romantic notion to go second class when you can easily afford first.
Examples
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Traveling second class allowed us to meet more interesting people during the trip.
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For example, Lieutenant Karl Malloy, his chief operations officer, was a nav analyst second class, a job that amounted to gathering data for shipboard navigation controllers.
Fiction book (1999) -
A few more runs in this second class series and he would be ready for the Big Time.
Fiction book (2000) -
With cutting tools obtained from the Raleigh, a volunteer crew succeeded in cutting through the hull and rescuing a fireman second class who had been entrapped in the void space underneath the dynamo room.
Academic text (1991) -
I decided to book a second class train ticket to save money on my journey.
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For budget-conscious travelers, flying second class can still provide a comfortable experience.
Antonyms
How High Class
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a lower or second-tier category' is directly derivable from combining 'second' (ordinal indicating the rank after first) with 'class' (a category or quality level). This ordinal + class composition is a regular, cross-linguistic pattern (e.g., Spanish 'segunda clase', French 'seconde classe') and follows standard English usage, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Second class as a way of travelling or sending mail means using the lower level of service, for example a cheaper ticket or slower post. So doing something 'second class' means it is cheaper or lower priority than 'first class'.