Set your primary search as you want, and install this;

Context Search {web link} Expands the context menu's 'Search for' item into a list of installed search engines, allowing you to choose the engine you want to use for each search.

thanks for your reply. this sounds like a reminder to switch to the right engine...is there no way other than downgrading the browser to get rid of this nuisance?

What ever search engine is the current is what will be used by Firefox when it does a search. Using Context Search lets you use any of your search engines at any time without changing the settings. All you have to do is use the mouse and mark what you want. Right click, and select Search For. You will then be shown a list of all your search engines to choose from.

Tried it. Not what I am looking for. It lets me obviously only search for things that are written down somewhere. All I want is to set the url bar to search in duckduckgo only. This seems to be overridden by firefox' new fangled I tell you how to use firefox engine. If theres is an app that does what I am looking for would be great. Or any way to override it in about:config

if i did that search i would land at leo because it is still active. What I want is to land at wiki via ddg. without having to check the se on the right.