inferior
UK/ɪnˈfɪə.ɹi.ə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ɪnˈfɪːɹɪjə/
inferior adjective: lower in rank, status, or quality.
Adjective
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.
- Of low rank, standard or quality.
- an inferior officer
- Due to the internet issue, the system generates an inferior audio file.
- (of a court or tribunal) Susceptible to having its decisions overturned by a higher court.
- Denoting goods or services which are in greater demand during a recession than in a boom, for example second-hand clothes.
- Situated further below (another part of the body), a direction that in humans corresponds to caudad.
- Situated in a relatively low posterior or ventral position in a quadrupedal body.
- 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).
- On the side of a flower which is next to the bract.
- Synonyms:
- anterior
- Printed in subscript.
- an inferior figure or letter
- Below the horizon.
- the inferior part of a meridian
- Nearer to the Sun than the Earth is.
- the inferior or interior planets
- an inferior conjunction of Mercury or Venus
Noun
inferior (plural inferiors)
Proper noun capitalized: Inferior
Inferior
- Ellipsis of Lake Inferior
inferior meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Sanskrit
inferior in Hindi
- of lower quality
- नीच nīc, अधोमानक adhomānak
inferior in Urdu
- کمتر
inferior in Punjabi
- ਘਟੀਆ
inferior in Sanskrit
- of lower quality
- अनार्य anārya
More languagesFewer languages
- inferior in Nepali
- घटिया
Examples of inferior in a sentence
- She detests visiting inferior places.
- Whether they are equal or inferior to my other poems, an author is the most improper judge.1700, [John] Dryden, “Preface”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
Synonyms of inferior
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
4 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of inferior
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more inferior |
| superlative | most inferior |
| alternative form | inferiour |
| Noun | |
| plural | inferiors |
Origin of inferior
Borrowed from Latin īnferior (“lower in situation or place”), comparative of īnferus (“below, underneath”).
Words formed from inferior
- anterior inferior cerebellar artery
- anteroinferior
- inferior alveolar artery
- inferior alveolar nerve
- inferior cervical ganglion
- inferior colliculus
- inferior concha
- inferior court
- inferior dental artery
- inferior ganglion
- inferior good
- inferior hypophyseal artery
- inferiority
- inferiorization
- 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 turbinate
- inferior turbinate bone
- inferior vena cava
- infero-
- Lake Inferior
- lateroinferior
- noninferior
- obliquus oculi inferior
- Peover Inferior
- posterior inferior cerebellar artery
- posteroinferior
- septoinferior
- superoinferior
Phrases with inferior
- inferior goods
- inferior recti
- inferior courts
- limits inferior
- inferior conchas
- inferior ganglia
- inferior planets
- Teliucu Inferior
- inferior obliques
- inferior colliculi
- inferior turbinates
- inferior vena cavas
18 more phrasesFewer phrases
- inferior venae cavae
- inferior nasal conchae
- inferior alveolar nerves
- inferior dental arteries
- inferior oblique muscles
- inferior turbinate bones
- inferior cervical ganglia
- inferior orbital fissures
- inferior petrosal sinuses
- inferior sagittal sinuses
- inferior thyroid arteries
- inferior alveolar arteries
- inferior laryngeal arteries
- inferior vena cava syndrome
- inferior mesenteric arteries
- inferior hypophyseal arteries
- anterior inferior cerebellar arteries
- posterior inferior cerebellar arteries
Words that rhyme with inferior
- superior
- anterior
- ulterior
- exterior
- interior
- posterior
- anteroposterior
- dorsoposterior
- posteroanterior
- superoinferior
- anteroinferior
- anterosuperior
41 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- apicoposterior
- centroanterior
- centroposterior
- citerior
- distoanterior
- distoposterior
- dorsoanterior
- frontoposterior
- Homo Superior
- inferoanterior
- inferoposterior
- lateroanterior
- lateroinferior
- lateroposterior
- laterosuperior
- medioposterior
- mediosuperior
- mentoanterior
- mentoposterior
- mesioposterior
- mesoanterior
- midanterior
- midposterior
- noninferior
- nonposterior
- nonsuperior
- occipitoanterior
- occipitoposterior
- posteroinferior
- posterosuperior
- proximoposterior
- sacroanterior
- sacroposterior
- sinistroposterior
- subanterior
- subposterior
- superoanterior
- superoposterior
- temporosuperior
- ventroanterior
- ventroposterior
Questions about inferior
- What does inferior mean?
- Inferior means lower in rank, status, or quality.
- What is inferior in Hindi?
- Inferior in Hindi is नीच (nīc), अधोमानक (adhomānak). See Inferior meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use inferior in a sentence?
- She detests visiting inferior places.
- What part of speech is inferior?
- Inferior can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce inferior?
- Inferior is pronounced /ɪnˈfɪə.ɹi.ə/ (UK).
Words near inferior in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: inferior (page history and authors); Inferior (page history and authors); inferior (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); inferior (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); inferior (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-inferior.ogg.
Cite this entry: “inferior.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/inferior. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.