superlative
UK/suːˈpɜːlətɪv/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/sʉwˈpəːlətɪv/
superlative adjective: having the power to carry something or someone above, over or beyond others.
Adjective
superlative (not comparable)
- Having the power to carry something or someone above, over or beyond others.
- Exceptionally good; of the highest quality.
- The Governor-General was entertaining at a civil banquet in the evening. He is reported as having made a “superlative speech, congratulating the Victorians on their loyalty; […].”1894, Alexander Begg, History of British Columbia, page 509
- Synonyms:
- above and beyond, exceptional, fabulous, extraordinary, superb
- Of or relating to the superlative degree (a degree of comparison of adjectives and adverbs).
Noun
superlative (plural superlatives)
- The extreme (e.g. highest, lowest, deepest, farthest, etc) extent or degree of something.
- A twist is accordingly something especially good, and a big twist is the superlative of excellence.1966, Sidney John Baker, The Australian language
- The degree of comparison of an adjective or adverb used when comparing three or more entities in terms of a certain property or a certain way of doing something. In English, the superlative of superiority is formed by adding the suffix -est or the word most (e.g. tiniest, most fully); the superlative of inferiority, by adding the word least (e.g. least big, least fully).
- Synonyms:
- superlative degree
- An adjective or adverb in the superlative degree.
- Daniel is amazing, wonderful, fantastic, and many other superlatives I can’t think of right now!
- Sometimes it feels like there are no more superlatives left. Seriously, what else can be said about this little guy with the No 10 shirt and magic in his feet other than to ask, perhaps, whether there is anyone who wants to persist with the argument that Pelé, or Diego Maradona, or any of the...2019 May 1, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian
superlative meaning in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada
superlative in Hindi
- exceptionally good
- सर्वोत्कृष्ट sarvotkŕṣṭ
superlative in Telugu
- superlative, best, excellent
- ఉత్తమోత్తమము uttamōttamamu
superlative in Malayalam
- സർവ്വശ്രേഷ്ഠം, സർവ്വോത്തമം, അത്യുത്തമം, സർവ്വശ്രേഷ്ഠത
superlative in Kannada
- ಅತಿಶಯೋಕ್ತಿ ಸೂಚಿಸುವ ರೂಪ, ತಮಭಾವರೂಪ, ಅತ್ಯುತ್ತಮ, ಅತ್ಯುತ್ಕೃಷ್ಟ, ಎಲ್ಲದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಗುಣದ, ಎಲ್ಲಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಮೇಲಿನ
More languagesFewer languages
- superlative in Tagalog
- pasukdol
- superlative in Arabic
- دَرَجَة فَائِقَة daraja fāʔiqa
- superlative in Malay
- kepalingan, superlatif
- superlative in Persian
- صفت برترین sefat-e bartarin
- superlative in Thai
- ชั้นเยี่ยม
Examples of superlative in a sentence
- The degrees of comparison of good are good (positive), better (comparative) and best (superlative).
- In English, adjectives and adverbs have three forms when making a comparison: the plain form "hot", the comparative form "hotter", and the superlative form "hottest".
- Adjectives graded for comparative and superlative degree can function both attributively and predicatively.
Synonyms of superlative
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of superlative
| plural | superlatives |
|---|
Origin of superlative
From Middle English superlatyf, from Old French superlatif, from Late Latin superlātīvus, from Latin superlātus (“carried above, over; extravagant, of hyperbole”), past participle of superfero (“carry over”), from super (“above”) + fero (“bear, carry”).
Words formed from superlative
Phrases with superlative
Questions about superlative
- What does superlative mean?
- Superlative means having the power to carry something or someone above, over or beyond others.
- What is superlative in Hindi?
- Superlative in Hindi is सर्वोत्कृष्ट (sarvotkŕṣṭ). See Superlative meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is superlative?
- Superlative can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce superlative?
- Superlative is pronounced /suːˈpɜːlətɪv/ (UK).
Words near superlative in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: superlative (page history and authors); ఉత్తమోత్తమము (Telugu) (page history and authors); superlative (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); superlative (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-superlative.ogg, en-us-superlative.ogg.
Cite this entry: “superlative.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/superlative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.