second best

About 0.73 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. adjective Inferior to the best (but better than other alternatives).

   I had to make do with a second-best alternative.

2. adjective Characterized by one or more optimality conditions not being satisfiable.
3. noun Something (or someone) that is inferior to the best (but better than other alternatives).
4. noun A situation where one or more optimality conditions cannot be satisfied.

Similar words

runner-up second class sub-par sub-standard second-to-last next-to-last second from last second-last betterer second-from-last

Word family

second bests