inferiority complex

noun

1

: an acute sense of personal inferiority often resulting either in timidity or through overcompensation in exaggerated aggressiveness

2

: a collective sense of cultural, regional, or national inferiority

Examples of inferiority complex in a Sentence

His shyness is the result of an inferiority complex.

Recent Examples on the Web

Now, that narrative could be a product of Canada’s long-standing inferiority complex with its southern neighbors shining through. —Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 18 June 2025

Judaism that tries to be alive to a changing world has an inferiority complex. —Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 1 June 2025

The final-day defeat against a United side who have set all sorts of unwanted records has contributed to the growing sense that Villa still carry an inferiority complex and fall short in the season’s most meaningful matches. —Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 28 May 2025

Washington’s inferiority complex about Baltimore is thereby deserved, enduring and kind of heartwarming but should not manifest itself in sports fan insults. —Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 21 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1922, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

inferiority complex

noun

: a personal sense of being inferior that may be expressed by behavior that is either timid or aggressive

Medical Definition

inferiority complex

noun

: an acute sense of personal inferiority resulting either in timidity or through overcompensation in exaggerated aggressiveness