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.
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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.
See More
Recent Examples on the Web
To win over Mehta, Google argued that general search rivals had failed to compete for default placements because the search engines were inferior, pointing to Mozilla's failed experiment setting Yahoo as a default search engine in Firefox as proof.
—Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 14 Nov. 2023
The original program was launched in 2018 and focused on reaching Hispanic families who had historically demonstrated extremely low participation in clinical trials and inferior clinical outcomes when compared to non-Hispanic Whites.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Nov. 2023
Girls’ teams also received fewer travel opportunities, worse equipment and inferior practice facilities than boys’ teams, according to the lawsuit.
—Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 30 Oct. 2023
Calling a Black person a monkey perpetuates the harmful stereotype that Black people are less intelligent, less evolved, or inherently inferior to other races.
—Essence, 11 Oct. 2023
But Algerians living under French colonial rule held an inferior status and were referred to as indigènes, or natives.
—Colette Davidson, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 Oct. 2023
In his view, Bing is not an inferior search engine because it was deprived of oxygen by Google; Bing is inferior because Microsoft has mismanaged its search and mobile products for the better part of two decades.
—David Pierce, The Verge, 2 Oct. 2023
Losing Starlink, one Ukrainian soldier said, would force Ukraine to fall back on inferior alternatives such as radio.
—Miriam Berger, Washington Post, 19 Sep. 2023
Doctors have had to ration their dwindling supplies, scrimp on dosages and swap out prescriptions with inferior alternatives.
—Shi En Kim, Scientific American, 18 Sep. 2023
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Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 14 Nov. 2023
The original program was launched in 2018 and focused on reaching Hispanic families who had historically demonstrated extremely low participation in clinical trials and inferior clinical outcomes when compared to non-Hispanic Whites.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Nov. 2023
Girls’ teams also received fewer travel opportunities, worse equipment and inferior practice facilities than boys’ teams, according to the lawsuit.
—Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 30 Oct. 2023
Calling a Black person a monkey perpetuates the harmful stereotype that Black people are less intelligent, less evolved, or inherently inferior to other races.
—Essence, 11 Oct. 2023
But Algerians living under French colonial rule held an inferior status and were referred to as indigènes, or natives.
—Colette Davidson, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 Oct. 2023
In his view, Bing is not an inferior search engine because it was deprived of oxygen by Google; Bing is inferior because Microsoft has mismanaged its search and mobile products for the better part of two decades.
—David Pierce, The Verge, 2 Oct. 2023
Losing Starlink, one Ukrainian soldier said, would force Ukraine to fall back on inferior alternatives such as radio.
—Miriam Berger, Washington Post, 19 Sep. 2023
Doctors have had to ration their dwindling supplies, scrimp on dosages and swap out prescriptions with inferior alternatives.
—Shi En Kim, Scientific American, 18 Sep. 2023
See More
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.
Word History
Phrases Containing inferior
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Dictionary Entries Near inferior
Cite this Entry
“Inferior.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inferior. Accessed 28 Nov. 2023.
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Kids Definition
inferior
1 of 2 adjective
in·fe·ri·or
in-ˈfir-ē-ər
1
: situated lower down
2
: of low or lower degree or rank
3
: of little or less importance, value, or merit
inferior
2 of 2 noun
: an inferior person or thing
Medical 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
Legal Definition
inferior
adjective
in·fe·ri·or
: of lower status, rank, or priority
More from Merriam-Webster on inferior
Nglish: Translation of inferior for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of inferior for Arabic Speakers
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