Difference between Second and Ordinal

What is the difference between Second and Ordinal?

Second as an adjective is the ordinal number corresponding to the cardinal number two. while Ordinal as an adjective is of a number, indicating position in a sequence.

Second

Part of speech: adjective

Definition: The ordinal number corresponding to the cardinal number two. Number-two; following immediately after the first one. That which comes after the first.

Part of speech: verb

Definition: Transfer temporarily to alternative employment. To assist. To agree as a second person to (a proposal), usually to reach a necessary quorum of two.

Part of speech: noun

Definition: A manufactured item that, though still usable, fails to meet quality control standards. An additional helping of food. Another chance to achieve what should have been done the first time, usually indicating success this time around. (See second-guess.) 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. Second base. 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. The attendant of a contestant in a duel or boxing match, who must be ready to take over if the contestant drops out. In the case of a duel, the seconds may also fight each other at 90 to the other contestants. One who agrees in addition, or such a motion, as required in certain meetings to pass judgement etc.

Example sentence: The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.

Ordinal

Part of speech: adjective

Definition: Of a number, indicating position in a sequence.

Part of speech: noun

Definition: An ordinal number such as first, second and third.

We hope you now know whether to use Second or Ordinal in your sentence.

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