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
But the 10-day league has often been a chance for second-year players to show off against inferior competition for a few games.
—Joseph Dycus, The Mercury News, 17 Apr. 2024
Nowadays, discount shopping is just an Amazon click away — a race to the bottom of inferior products and loneliness.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2024
Three years ago, women’s basketball players were treated as second-class players by the NCAA with vastly inferior weight rooms—a scandal that prompted some reflection in the sport.
—Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 8 Apr. 2024
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
Joseph Dycus, The Mercury News, 17 Apr. 2024
Nowadays, discount shopping is just an Amazon click away — a race to the bottom of inferior products and loneliness.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2024
Three years ago, women’s basketball players were treated as second-class players by the NCAA with vastly inferior weight rooms—a scandal that prompted some reflection in the sport.
—Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 8 Apr. 2024
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
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.
Articles Related to inferior
Dictionary Entries Near inferior
Cite this Entry
“Inferior.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inferior. Accessed 24 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
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share