INFERIOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does inferior mean? 

• INFERIOR (noun)
  The noun INFERIOR has 2 senses:

1. one of lesser rank or station or quality

2. a character or symbol set or printed or written beneath or slightly below and to the side of another character

  Familiarity information: INFERIOR used as a noun is rare.

• INFERIOR (adjective)
  The adjective INFERIOR has 6 senses:

1. of or characteristic of low rank or importance

2. of low or inferior quality

3. written or printed below and to one side of another character

4. having an orbit between the sun and the Earth's orbit

5. lower than a given reference point

6. falling short of some prescribed norm

  Familiarity information: INFERIOR used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INFERIOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

One of lesser rank or station or quality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

follower (a person who accepts the leadership of another)

Antonym:

superior (one of greater rank or station or quality)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A character or symbol set or printed or written beneath or slightly below and to the side of another character

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

inferior; subscript

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

character; graph; grapheme; graphic symbol (a written symbol that is used to represent speech)

• INFERIOR (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or characteristic of low rank or importance

Similar:

outclassed (decisively surpassed by something else so as to appear to be of a lower class)

middle-level (intermediate in rank or position)

low-level (at a low level in rank or importance)

indifferent (fairly poor to not very good)

humble; low; lowly; modest; small (low or inferior in station or quality)

Also:

low (less than normal in degree or intensity or amount)

low (literal meanings; being at or having a relatively small elevation or upward extension)

low-level; subordinate (lower in rank or importance)

Antonym:

superior (of or characteristic of high rank or importance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of low or inferior quality

Similar:

cheapjack; shoddy; tawdry (made of inferior workmanship and materials)

utility; utility-grade (used of beef; usable but inferior)

third-rate (of lesser quality than second-rate)

second-class (of inferior status or quality)

scrawny; scrubby; stunted (inferior in size or quality)

ropey; ropy ((British informal) very poor in quality)

mediocre; second-rate (moderate to inferior in quality)

low-grade (of inferior quality)

less ((usually preceded by 'no') lower in quality)

deplorable; execrable; miserable; woeful; wretched (of very poor quality or condition)

commercial; commercial-grade (of the kind or quality used in commerce; average or inferior)

coarsened (made coarse or crude by lack of skill)

coarse; common (of low or inferior quality or value)

bush; bush-league (not of the highest quality or sophistication)

bum; cheap; cheesy; chintzy; crummy; punk; sleazy; tinny (of very poor quality; flimsy)

base ((used of metals) consisting of or alloyed with inferior metal)

bad (below average in quality or performance)

Also:

worst ((superlative of 'bad') most wanting in quality or value or condition)

Attribute:

caliber; calibre; quality (a degree or grade of excellence or worth)

Antonym:

superior (of high or superior quality or performance)

Derivation:

inferiority (an inferior quality)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Written or printed below and to one side of another character

Synonyms:

inferior; subscript

Domain category:

printing; printing process (reproduction by applying ink to paper as for publication)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Having an orbit between the sun and the Earth's orbit

Context example:

Mercury and Venus are inferior planets

Domain category:

astronomy; uranology (the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole)

Antonym:

superior (having an orbit farther from the sun than the Earth's orbit)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Lower than a given reference point

Context example:

inferior alveolar artery

Similar:

bottom (situated at the bottom or lowest position)

Domain category:

anatomy; general anatomy (the branch of morphology that deals with the structure of animals)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Falling short of some prescribed norm

Synonyms:

deficient; inferior; substandard

Context example:

substandard housing

Similar:

nonstandard (varying from or not adhering to a standard)

Derivation:

inferiority (the state of being inferior)

 Context examples 

The veins that run parallel to the phrenic arteries which include the two superior and two inferior phrenic veins.

(Phrenic Vein, NCI Thesaurus)

Electrocardiographic criteria used for the diagnosis of right atrial abnormality may include a peaked p wave greater than 2.5 millimeters in amplitude in the inferior leads.

(P-pulmonale by ECG Finding, NCI Thesaurus)

Sir Thomas set off, Edmund would go with him, and the others had been left in a state of wretchedness, inferior only to what followed the receipt of the next letters from London.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

She might be firm, but only by relationship, and in an inferior and tributary degree.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The oculomotor nerve sends motor fibers to the levator muscles of the eyelid and to the superior rectus, inferior rectus, and inferior oblique muscles of the eye.

(Oculomotor Nerve, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The neural activity in the inferior frontal junction typically appeared 20 milliseconds before activity in the FFA or PPA.

(How the brain pays attention to faces and places, NIH)

An abnormality of the superior or inferior vena cava that is present at birth.

(Congenital Abnormality of Vena Cava, NCI Thesaurus)

The pain of being obliged to practise concealment towards him, was very little inferior to the pain of having made Harriet unhappy.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The lobe of the liver situated posteriorly located between the left lobe and the inferior vena cava.

(Caudate Lobe, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

It causes fibrovascular proliferation at the inferior ora serrata.

(Pars Planitis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)