inferior

Alternative forms

• inferiour (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnferior (“lower in situation or place”), comparative of īnferus (“below, underneath”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĭnfîrēər
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfɪə.ɹi.ə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfɪɹ.i.ɚ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪəɹiə(ɹ)

Adjective

inferior (comparative more inferior, superlative most inferior)

1. Lower in rank, status, or quality.

   Anna had always felt inferior to her brother due to poor school grades.

   The pathological liar was morally inferior to his much nicer constituents.

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Preface”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     Whether they are equal or inferior to my other poems, an author is the most improper judge.

   1. Of low rank, standard or quality.

      an inferior officer

   2. (law) (of a court or tribunal) Susceptible to having its decisions overturned by a higher court.
   3. (economics) Denoting goods or services which are in greater demand during a recession than in a boom, for example second-hand clothes.
2. Located below:
   2. (anatomy) Situated further below (another part of the body), a direction that in humans corresponds to caudad.
   3. (zoology) Situated in a relatively low posterior or ventral position in a quadrupedal body.
   4. (botany) Situated below some other organ (said of a calyx when free from the ovary, and therefore below it, or of an ovary with an adherent and therefore inferior calyx).
   5. (botany) On the side of a flower which is next to the bract.

      Synonym: anterior

   6. (typography) Printed in subscript.

      an inferior figure or letter

   7. (astronomy) Below the horizon.

      the inferior part of a meridian

3. (astronomy) Nearer to the Sun than the Earth is.

   the inferior or interior planets; an inferior conjunction of Mercury or Venus

Noun

inferior (plural inferiors)

1. A person of lower rank, stature, or ability to another.

   Antonym: superior

   As you are my inferior, I can tell you to do anything I want.

2. (printing) An inferior letter, figure, or symbol.

References

• “inferior”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “inferior”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “inferior”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “inferior”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• fire iron, fireiron

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnferiōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [iɱ.fə.ɾiˈor]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [iɱ.fə.ɾiˈo]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [iɱ.fe.ɾiˈoɾ]

Adjective

inferior m or f (masculine and feminine plural inferiors)

1. inferior
2. lower

Further reading

• “inferior” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “inferior”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “inferior” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “inferior” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnferior (“lower, inferior”), the comparative of īnferus (“low, nether, underground”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

inferior (strong nominative masculine singular inferiorer, not comparable)

1. subordinate, secondary
2. (of people) inferior

   sich inferior fühlen ― to feel inferior

3. substandard, bad

Further reading

• “inferior” in Duden online
• “inferior” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /inˈfe.ri.or/, [ĩːˈfɛriɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /inˈfe.ri.or/, [iɱˈfɛːrior]

Adjective

īnferior (comparative, neuter īnferius); third declension

1. comparative degree of īnferus; lower in situation or place
   1. Subsequent, later, latter in time or succession
   2. Inferior or lower in quality, rank, or number
      • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.861–862:

        et quotiēns steterīs domitō sublīmis in orbe,
        omnia sint numerīs īnferiōra tuīs.

        And whenever you will stand exalted for having conquered the world,
        may everything be lower than your shoulders!
        (The poet foretells the eventual dominion of the Roman Empire now that Romulus has founded the city of Rome.)

References

• “inferior”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “inferior”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• inferior in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • later writers: scriptores aetate posteriores or inferiores
    
  • to gain a weak case by clever pleading: causam inferiorem dicendo reddere superiorem (λόγον κρείττω ποιειν) (Brut. 8. 30)
    
  • to be defeated in fight, lose the battle: proelio vinci, superari, inferiorem, victum discedere
    
  • to come off victorious: superiorem (opp. inferiorem), victorem (proelio, pugna) discedere
    

Etymology

From Latin īnferior.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Adjective

inferior m (feminine singular inferiora, masculine plural inferiors, feminine plural inferioras)

1. inferior
2. lower

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnferiōrem.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: in‧fe‧ri‧or

Adjective

inferior m or f (plural inferiores)

1. inferior

   Antonym: superior

Etymology

Borrowed from French inférieur, from Latin inferior.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌin.fe.riˈor/

Adjective

inferior m or n (feminine singular inferioară, masculine plural inferiori, feminine and neuter plural inferioare)

1. inferior

   Antonym: superior

Etymology

From Latin īnferior.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /infeˈɾjoɾ/ [ĩɱ.feˈɾjoɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: in‧fe‧rior

Adjective

inferior m or f (masculine and feminine plural inferiores)

1. inferior (of lower quality)
2. inferior (of lower rank)
3. inferior; lower (below)
   • 20 August 2023, Jordi Quixano, “España se hace inmortal con la conquista de su primer Mundial femenino”, in El País‎:

     España derribó la puerta de la eternidad para hacerse inmortal, para ponerse el laurel de oro y diamantes, para significarse al fin como la mejor del mundo, cosa que llevaba años haciendo en las categorías inferiores.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “inferior”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10