second-ˈhandedness
[f. second-handed a. + -ness.]
The quality or condition of being second-hand or hackneyed; secondhandness.
| 1905 G. B. Shaw Let. c Aug. (1972) II. 551, I have striven hard to open English eyes to the emptiness of Shakespeare's philosophy, to the superficiality and second-handedness of his morality. 1920 R. Macaulay Potterism ii. iii. 90 Once you are tied up with a party, you can only avoid second-handedness, taking over views ready made. 1929 A. N. Whitehead Aims Educ. iv. 79 The second-handedness of the learned world is the secret of its mediocrity. |