inferior
adjective
in·fe·ri·or
in-ˈfir-ē-ər 
Examples of inferior in a Sentence
… the pearls were of inferior quality; they looked like pearlized globs of varying wrinkly shapes.
—
Tracie Rozhon, New York Times, 24 Aug. 2002
Sharks, rays, and ratfishes share a special burden: these cartilaginous fishes are saddled with a reputation for being somehow inferior to vertebrates blessed with bony skeletons.
—Carl Zimmer, Natural History, September 2000
No longer do workers and peasants feel inferior to the university-trained.
—Rhea Menzel Whitehead, Saturday Review, 4 Mar. 1972
These pearls are of inferior quality.
They were considered a socially inferior group.
He always felt inferior around his brother.
The judges voted to overturn a ruling made by an inferior court.
Tracie Rozhon, New York Times, 24 Aug. 2002
Sharks, rays, and ratfishes share a special burden: these cartilaginous fishes are saddled with a reputation for being somehow inferior to vertebrates blessed with bony skeletons.
—Carl Zimmer, Natural History, September 2000
No longer do workers and peasants feel inferior to the university-trained.
—Rhea Menzel Whitehead, Saturday Review, 4 Mar. 1972
These pearls are of inferior quality.
They were considered a socially inferior group.
He always felt inferior around his brother.
The judges voted to overturn a ruling made by an inferior court.
Recent Examples on the Web
Elliott also reversed the exercise by designating students with blue eyes as superior and students with brown eyes as inferior.
—Chandelis Duster, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
The Heat has built its record by taking care of business against inferior opponents, improving to 24-9 this season against teams currently with a losing record after Sunday night’s 119-107 road victory against the struggling Washington Wizards.
—Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 1 Apr. 2024
To accommodate all the equipment and ensure that everything had at least one backup — so that the care provided in it wouldn’t be inferior to that in the hospital — the truck and its modifications cost $1.8 million; $50,000 a year is spent on its maintenance.
—Helen Ouyang, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2024
This is not to say that Garrison Brothers is inferior to Still Austin, but that the whiskeys coming out of each distillery could not be more different, something that holds true across the wide landscape of Texas whiskey.
—Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 24 Mar. 2024
And there’s no shortage of examples of government heavy handedness leading to inferior products.
—Kylie Robison, Fortune, 22 Mar. 2024
The Northern California racing circuit, admittedly inferior to the quality of racing in the south, is built on the idea of running California-breds.
—John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2024
After internalizing the fallacy that their hair was inferior, Camille and Taylor learn to embrace their natural hair textures, which includes refining both their wash-day routine and their cocktail of products in ways that suit their curl patterns and porosity.
—The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2024
For decades, American maestros had been cast aside in classical music, seen as inferior to Europeans.
—Javier C. Hernández, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2024
Chandelis Duster, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
The Heat has built its record by taking care of business against inferior opponents, improving to 24-9 this season against teams currently with a losing record after Sunday night’s 119-107 road victory against the struggling Washington Wizards.
—Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 1 Apr. 2024
To accommodate all the equipment and ensure that everything had at least one backup — so that the care provided in it wouldn’t be inferior to that in the hospital — the truck and its modifications cost $1.8 million; $50,000 a year is spent on its maintenance.
—Helen Ouyang, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2024
This is not to say that Garrison Brothers is inferior to Still Austin, but that the whiskeys coming out of each distillery could not be more different, something that holds true across the wide landscape of Texas whiskey.
—Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 24 Mar. 2024
And there’s no shortage of examples of government heavy handedness leading to inferior products.
—Kylie Robison, Fortune, 22 Mar. 2024
The Northern California racing circuit, admittedly inferior to the quality of racing in the south, is built on the idea of running California-breds.
—John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2024
After internalizing the fallacy that their hair was inferior, Camille and Taylor learn to embrace their natural hair textures, which includes refining both their wash-day routine and their cocktail of products in ways that suit their curl patterns and porosity.
—The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2024
For decades, American maestros had been cast aside in classical music, seen as inferior to Europeans.
—Javier C. Hernández, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'inferior.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Inferior.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inferior. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
inferior
adjective
in·fe·ri·or
in-ˈfir-ē-ər
1
: situated below and closer to the feet than another and especially another similar part of an upright body especially of a human being compare superior sense 1
2
: situated in a more posterior or ventral position in the body of a quadruped compare superior sense 2
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