SEC

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does SEC mean? 

• SEC (noun)
  The noun SEC has 3 senses:

1. 1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites

2. ratio of the hypotenuse to the adjacent side of a right-angled triangle

3. an independent federal agency that oversees the exchange of securities to protect investors

  Familiarity information: SEC used as a noun is uncommon.

• SEC (adjective)
  The adjective SEC has 1 sense:

1. (of champagne) moderately dry

  Familiarity information: SEC used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SEC (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

s; sec; second

Hypernyms ("sec" is a kind of...):

time unit; unit of time (a unit for measuring time periods)

Meronyms (parts of "sec"):

millisecond; msec (one thousandth (10^-3) of a second)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sec"):

leap second (a second (as measured by an atomic clock) added to or subtracted from Greenwich Mean Time in order to compensate for slowing in the Earth's rotation)

Holonyms ("sec" is a part of...):

min; minute (a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Ratio of the hypotenuse to the adjacent side of a right-angled triangle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

sec; secant

Hypernyms ("sec" is a kind of...):

circular function; trigonometric function (function of an angle expressed as a ratio of the length of the sides of right-angled triangle containing the angle)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An independent federal agency that oversees the exchange of securities to protect investors

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

SEC; Securities and Exchange Commission

Hypernyms ("SEC" is a kind of...):

independent agency (an agency of the United States government that is created by an act of Congress and is independent of the executive departments)

• SEC (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(of champagne) moderately dry

Synonyms:

sec; unsweet

Similar:

dry ((of liquor) having a low residual sugar content because of decomposition of sugar during fermentation)

 Context examples 

A category specifying that a product is marketed as a cosmetic under the statutory definition found in FD&C Act Section 201(i) SEC. 201. [21 U.S.C. 321].

(Cosmetic Marketing Category, NCI Thesaurus)

Units are ml/sec.

(Blood Flow Rate, NCI Thesaurus)