How to Use second-class in a Sentence

second-class

1 of 2 adjective
  • In this sect, women are viewed as second-class and subservient to men.
    — Lauren Lantry, ABC News, 22 June 2023
  • These come in first- and second-class options across all age categories.
    — Lyndsey Matthews, AFAR Media, 2 July 2025
  • The teen has been charged with reckless homicide, a second-class felony, per the update.
    — Toria Sheffield, PEOPLE, 12 Jan. 2026
  • From this point on, first-class seats are in compartments, while second-class seats are airline-style.
    — Elle Benson Easton, Travel + Leisure, 2 Nov. 2024
  • Girls are not second-class citizens, so why are they being treated that way?
    — Ryan Morik, Fox News, 9 Oct. 2024
  • The Second Amendment is not a second-class right.
    — Michael Ruiz, FOXNews.com, 25 Nov. 2025
  • Someone riding a bus or even walking as a means of transport is viewed as a second-class citizen.
    — U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Mar. 2025
  • Raising girls in a world where women are often treated as second-class citizens isn’t easy.
    — Elizabeth Ayoola, Essence, 13 Mar. 2025
  • To be Arab or Black, even with a French passport, was often to be made to feel second-class.
    — Roger Cohen, BostonGlobe.com, 1 July 2023
  • For 23 years, the rowdy blue agent of chaos lived as a second-class citizen at Disney.
    — Brooks Barnes, New York Times, 2 June 2025
  • The Baptists of Virginia were also held in second-class status.
    — Adam Jortner, The Conversation, 18 Oct. 2024
  • Those cases want women to be drafted, but remain second-class citizens.
    — Wendy Murphy, Boston Herald, 9 Mar. 2026
  • Mother and daughter left home still second-class citizens of a country that had been ruled by white people for three centuries.
    — Ryan Lenora Brown, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 May 2024
  • But to willingly accept second-class status would devastate their brands.
    — Jon Wilner, Mercury News, 11 July 2025
  • But going mostly digital doesn’t make for a second-class experience of these movies.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 6 May 2024
  • Mindanaoans had felt like second-class Filipinos for longer than the country had been independent.
    — Sean Williams, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Women are second-class citizens and must cover their hair and wear loose-fitting clothing in all public spaces.
    — Agustina Vergara Cid, Oc Register, 23 Jan. 2026
  • Women deemed second-class citizens.
    — Teresa Leger Fernández, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Aug. 2025
  • Catholic women have long complained of second-class status in an institution that reserves the priesthood for men.
    — Nicole Winfield, Los Angeles Times, 8 Jan. 2025
  • As the latter became emblematic of comfort and success, the former came to be seen as down-market or second-class.
    — Lily Meyer, The Atlantic, 30 Apr. 2026
  • First, non-Jewish residents have long been treated as second-class citizens.
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 9 Aug. 2024
  • In many Muslim nations, women are treated as second-class citizens.
    — Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 20 Aug. 2026
  • The comedy as a second-class sibling to the drama is a notion that has annoyed the people who make television comedies for years.
    — Joe Reid, Vulture, 7 June 2025
  • No more treating the people who make movies possible as second-class citizens in their own celebration.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 17 Dec. 2025
  • This speaks to a broader issue of human rights violations against girls and women who are still treated as second-class citizens.
    — Lipi Roy, Md, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2024
  • Free public markets let anyone own anything but retail investors often still feel like second-class citizens in the world of finance.
    — Philip Maymin, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2025
  • Catholic women's groups that have long accused the Vatican of treating women as second-class citizens praised the change.
    — Harold Maass, The Week, 27 Apr. 2023
  • These are highly competitive guys who, for the most part, don’t like being considered, well, second-class citizens, in a sense.
    — Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 28 Apr. 2026
  • First, ‘finishers’ makes those players seem more involved than mere ‘substitutes’, which sounds distinctly second-class.
    — Michael Cox, New York Times, 14 Dec. 2025
  • Though the Mountain West is a second-class conference, the Aztecs would in no way be second-class citizens.
    — Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 July 2023

second class

2 of 2 noun
  • The airline offers special services for travelers in first and second class.
  • She got an upper second class in English at Oxford.
  • They were then allowed to go to their second class of the day.
    — Jameelah Nasheed, Teen Vogue, 29 Oct. 2018
  • The second class has a top speed of 20mph with throttle assist.
    — Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Harris, then six and in the first grade, was in the second class of children to be bused up the mountain.
    — Noemie Emery, National Review, 18 Aug. 2020
  • If there are more than 22, the district can open a second class, officials said.
    — Pioneer Press, chicagotribune.com, 2 Feb. 2018
  • With growth harder to come by, Apple can’t afford to treat them as second class anymore.
    — Washington Post, 20 Sep. 2019
  • Odds drop off after Scheffler into a second class of contenders.
    — Ajc Sports, AJC.com, 4 Apr. 2026
  • In the supply chain, truck drivers are treated as second class citizens.
    — Lora Cecere, Forbes, 15 Nov. 2021
  • There's a second class of true believer, and that's really the crypto.
    — Dan Patterson, CBS News, 10 Feb. 2022
  • There's a number of people on the court who feel that religion has becomes almost like a second class right.
    — Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 18 Apr. 2023
  • But in a second class where the teacher gave the course, a shocked student refused to leave the room and told her father about what happened.
    — Adam Nossiter, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2020
  • The first class is loyal, the second class is disloyal, and the lower class waverings.
    — Jen Kirby, Daily Intelligencer, 9 Oct. 2017
  • Taylor was the prize of Luke Fickell’s second class as the head coach of Cincinnati.
    — Tim Bielik, cleveland.com, 7 Feb. 2018
  • This second class of startups were selected from more than 100 applicants from around the world.
    — William Thornton [email protected], AL.com, 23 Apr. 2018
  • This is the second class action filed against the automakers in the Eastern District.
    — Drew Dawson, Journal Sentinel, 20 Feb. 2023
  • The high school bell schedule for the first and second class periods has been aligned with the bell schedules for other high schools throughout the county.
    — David Anderson, baltimoresun.com, 29 June 2021
  • And there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools.
    — Deepa Shivaram, NPR, 9 Sep. 2024
  • They're still treated like second class citizens, and aren't permitted to live outside the Citadel for very long.
    — Annalee Newitz, Ars Technica, 17 Sep. 2017
  • The shooter enters the school and begins shooting into a classroom, which is connected to a second class.
    — Christina Maxouris, CNN, 27 May 2022
  • There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools.
    — Chelsey Sanchez, Harper's BAZAAR, 13 Sep. 2019
  • For the second class, 36 business owners applied for 11 available slots.
    — Don Lee Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 28 June 2021
  • Roberts, who was in the second class that graduated in 1954, joined the department the same year.
    — Frederick N. Rasmussen, baltimoresun.com, 7 Oct. 2021
  • The second class is composed of HLAs that present antigens found outside of the cell to T-helper cells.
    — William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 16 June 2022
  • Councilman Scott Willis was the lone vote in favor of moving Westfield to a second class city.
    — Brittany Carloni, The Indianapolis Star, 28 June 2022
  • Robert Edwin Kline was a 22-year-old gunner's mate second class when he was killed on the Arizona.
    — ABC News, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Salay said this is the second class Kellwell has done, the first being in Marion County.
    — Mary Alford, The Seattle Times, 24 Dec. 2017
  • There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day.
    — Erica Frankenberg, The Conversation, 19 July 2019
  • And there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day.
    — NBC News, 30 June 2019
  • There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day.
    — Emily Larsen, Washington Examiner, 25 Sep. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'second-class.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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