SEC
Abbreviation with 6 meanings
| Stands for | U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 6 |
| Categories | Government & Politics, Units & Measurements, Sports, Writing & Everyday |
| Also written | sec, Sec., sec. |
SEC has six meanings. The most common are U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (US federal agency) and Second (time); it can also stand for Southeastern Conference, Secant, Secretary and Section.
Meanings of SEC at a glance
| # | SEC stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission | Government & Politics › US Federal Agency |
| 2 | Second | Units & Measurements › Time |
| 3 | Southeastern Conference | Sports › Sports League and Organization |
| 4 | Secant | Units & Measurements › Math |
| 5 | Secretary | Writing & Everyday › Title and Honorific |
| 6 | Section | Writing & Everyday › Citation and Bibliography |
1. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Government & Politics · US Federal Agency Abbreviations
Regulates securities markets, protects investors and enforces federal securities laws. Public companies file annual 10-K and quarterly 10-Q reports with the independent commission through its EDGAR database, and it oversees exchanges, brokers, investment advisers and mutual funds.
Example: The company disclosed the cyberattack in an SEC filing on Tuesday.
Created by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 after the 1929 crash, it had Joseph P. Kennedy as its first chairman. It has five commissioners, no more than three from the same party. On sports pages SEC usually means the Southeastern Conference, a far more common meaning there.
2. Second (sec)
Units & Measurements · Time Abbreviations
Everyday abbreviation for second, common on stopwatches, recipes, workout plans, sports results and casual messages ("be there in a sec"). It means the same sixtieth of a minute as the SI symbol s but is not used in formal scientific notation.
Example: Hold each stretch for 30 sec, then switch sides.
The plural is secs in casual writing, though many style guides use sec for both. The word second comes from medieval Latin pars minuta secunda, the "second small part" of an hour after the minute. In trigonometry sec is the secant function, and SEC in capitals usually means the US Securities and Exchange Commission or the Southeastern Conference.
3. Southeastern Conference
Sports · Sports League and Organization Abbreviations
NCAA Division I athletic conference with 16 member universities across the American South, including Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida and, since 2024, Texas and Oklahoma. It is widely regarded as the strongest conference in college football and is one of the wealthiest in college sports.
Example: Georgia and Alabama meet again in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta this December.
Founded in 1932 by 13 schools that left the Southern Conference, and headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. SEC teams won seven straight college football national championships from the 2006 through 2012 seasons. Pronounced as letters. Outside sports pages, SEC usually means the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
4. Secant (sec)
Units & Measurements · Math Abbreviations
The reciprocal of cosine: sec θ = 1/cos θ, or hypotenuse over adjacent side in a right triangle. It appears in calculus integrals and in identities such as 1 + tan²θ = sec²θ.
Example: Since cos 60° = 0.5, sec 60° = 2.
The name comes from Latin secare, "to cut", because a secant line cuts through a circle. The derivative of tan x is sec²x. Students often pair sec with sine by mistake; the mismatch (secant with cosine, cosecant with sine) is a classic exam trap. Outside math, sec usually means second.
5. Secretary (Sec.)
Writing & Everyday · Title and Honorific Abbreviations
Short form of Secretary found in rosters, minutes, signature lines and headlines for a cabinet secretary, an organization's secretary or a corporate secretary. News writing normally spells the title out in running text.
Example: Minutes were recorded by Sec. Rosa Alvarez and approved at the March board meeting.
US cabinet members heading executive departments carry the title Secretary, such as the Secretary of State, while the Justice Department is led by the Attorney General. Variants include Secy. and Sec'y. In documents "sec." can also mean section, and in measurements "sec" means second. The head of the United Nations is the Secretary-General.
6. Section (sec.)
Writing & Everyday · Citation and Bibliography Abbreviations
Identifies a numbered section of a book, report, statute, regulation or standard in citations and cross-references. Legal writing usually uses the section sign instead.
Example: Eligibility requirements are listed in sec. 4.2 of the employee handbook.
In law, the section symbol replaces "sec." in most citations, with a doubled symbol for several sections; the Bluebook spells out "Section" only at the start of a sentence. Chicago uses "sec." in notes. Elsewhere "sec" abbreviates second (time) and secretary.
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