inferior
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- inferiour (obsolete)
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from Latin īnferior (“lower in situation or place”), comparative of īnferus (“below, underneath”).
PronunciationEdit
- enPR: ĭnfîrēər
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɪnˈfɪə.ɹi.ə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ɪnˈfɪɹ.i.ɚ/
Audio (GA) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪəɹiə(ɹ)
AdjectiveEdit
inferior (comparative more inferior, superlative most inferior)
- 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.
- Of low rank, standard or quality.
- an inferior officer
- (law) (of a court or tribunal) Susceptible to having its decisions overturned by a higher court.
- (economics) Denoting goods or services which are in greater demand during a recession than in a boom, for example second-hand clothes.
- Located below:
- (anatomy) Situated further below (another part of the body), a direction that in humans corresponds to caudad.
- (zoology) Situated in a relatively low posterior or ventral position in a quadrupedal body.
- (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).
- (botany) On the side of a flower which is next to the bract.
- Synonym: anterior
- (typography) Printed in subscript.
- an inferior figure or letter
- (astronomy) Below the horizon.
- the inferior part of a meridian
- (astronomy) Nearer to the Sun than the Earth is.
- the inferior or interior planets; an inferior conjunction of Mercury or Venus
Usage notesEdit
Inferior and superior are generally followed by to; than is seen sometimes, but is viewed as wrong because than requires a grammatical comparative, not a notional one.
SynonymsEdit
- See also Thesaurus:bad
AntonymsEdit
Coordinate termsEdit
- (dentistry location adjectives) anterior, apical, apicocoronal, axial, buccal, buccoapical, buccocervical, buccogingival, buccolabial, buccolingual, bucco-occlusal, buccopalatal, cervical, coronal, coronoapical, distal, distoapical, distobuccal, distocervical, distocoronal, distofacial, distogingival, distoincisal, distolingual, disto-occlusal, distoclusal, distocclusal, distopalatal, facial, gingival, incisal, incisocervical, inferior, labial, lingual, linguobuccal, linguo-occlusal, mandibular, maxillary, mesial, mesioapical, mesiobuccal, mesiocervical, mesiocoronal, mesiodistal, mesiofacial, mesioincisal, mesiogingival, mesiolingual, mesio-occlusal, mesioclusal, mesiocclusal, mesiopalatal, occlusal, palatal, posterior, proximal, superior, vestibular (Category: en:Dentistry) [edit]
Derived termsEdit
- anterior inferior cerebellar artery
- anteroinferior
- inferior alveolar artery
- inferior alveolar nerve
- inferior cervical ganglion
- inferior colliculus
- inferior court
- inferior dental artery
- inferior ganglion
- inferior good
- inferiority
- inferiorize
- inferior laryngeal artery
- inferior laryngeal nerve
- inferiorly
- inferior mesenteric artery
- inferiormost
- inferior nasal concha
- inferiorness
- inferior oblique
- inferior oblique muscle
- inferior orbital fissure
- inferior petrosal sinus
- inferior pharyngeal constrictor
- inferior planet
- inferior rectus
- inferior sagittal sinus
- inferior thyroid artery
- inferior vena cava
- infero-
- lateroinferior
- noninferior
- posterior inferior cerebellar artery
- posteroinferior
- superoinferior
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
NounEdit
inferior (plural inferiors)
- A person of lower rank, stature, or ability to another.
- As you are my inferior, I can tell you to do anything I want.
- Antonym: superior
- (printing) An inferior letter, figure, or symbol.
TranslationsEdit
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
ReferencesEdit
- “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 at OneLook Dictionary Search
AnagramsEdit
CatalanEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
inferior (masculine and feminine plural inferiors)
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “inferior” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “inferior”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
- “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.
GermanEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from Latin īnferior (“lower, inferior”), the comparative of īnferus (“low, nether, underground”).
PronunciationEdit
Audio (file)
AdjectiveEdit
inferior (strong nominative masculine singular inferiorer, not comparable)
- subordinate, secondary
- (of people) inferior
- sich inferior fühlen ― to feel inferior
- substandard, bad
DeclensionEdit
Further readingEdit
LatinEdit
PronunciationEdit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /inˈfe.ri.or/, [ĩːˈfɛriɔr]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /inˈfe.ri.or/, [iɱˈfɛːrior]
AdjectiveEdit
īnferior (neuter īnferius); third declension
- comparative degree of īnferus; lower in situation or place
- Subsequent, later, latter in time or succession
- 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.)
- And whenever you will stand exalted for having conquered the world,
- et quotiēns steterīs domitō sublīmis in orbe,
InflectionEdit
Third-declension comparative adjective.
Number | Singular | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case / Gender | Masc./Fem. | Neuter | Masc./Fem. | Neuter | |
Nominative | īnferior | īnferius | īnferiōrēs | īnferiōra | |
Genitive | īnferiōris | īnferiōrum | |||
Dative | īnferiōrī | īnferiōribus | |||
Accusative | īnferiōrem | īnferius | īnferiōrēs | īnferiōra | |
Ablative | īnferiōre | īnferiōribus | |||
Vocative | īnferior | īnferius | īnferiōrēs | īnferiōra |
Related termsEdit
- īnfimus (superlative)
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “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[1], 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
- later writers: scriptores aetate posteriores or inferiores
OccitanEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
Audio (Béarn) (file)
AdjectiveEdit
inferior m (feminine singular inferiora, masculine plural inferiors, feminine plural inferioras)
PortugueseEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from Latin īnferiōrem.
PronunciationEdit
- Hyphenation: in‧fe‧ri‧or
AdjectiveEdit
inferior m or f (plural inferiores)
RomanianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From French inférieur, from Latin inferior.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
inferior m or n (feminine singular inferioară, masculine plural inferiori, feminine and neuter plural inferioare)
DeclensionEdit
singular | plural | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
nominative/ accusative |
indefinite | inferior | inferioară | inferiori | inferioare | ||
definite | inferiorul | inferioara | inferiorii | inferioarele | |||
genitive/ dative |
indefinite | inferior | inferioare | inferiori | inferioare | ||
definite | inferiorului | inferioarei | inferiorilor | inferioarelor |
AntonymsEdit
Related termsEdit
SpanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
inferior (plural inferiores)
AntonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “inferior”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014