Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Inferior

In·fe′ri·or (·ẽr), a. [L., compar. of inferus that is below, underneath, the lower; akin to E. under: cf. F. inférieur. See Under.]

1. Lower in place, rank, excellence, etc.; less important or valuable; subordinate; underneath; beneath.

A thousand inferior and particular propositions. I. Watts.

The body, or, as some love to call it, our inferior nature. Burke.

Whether they are equal or inferior to my other poems, an author is the most improper judge. Dryden.

2. Poor or mediocre; as, an inferior quality of goods.

3. (Astron.) (a) Nearer the sun than the earth is; as, the inferior or interior planets; an inferior conjunction of Mercury or Venus. (b) Below the horizon; as, the inferior part of a meridian.

4. (Bot.) (a) Situated below some other organ; — said of a calyx when free from the ovary, and therefore below it, or of an ovary with an adherent and therefore inferior calyx. (b) On the side of a flower which is next the bract; anterior.

5. (Min.) Junior or subordinate in rank; as, an inferior officer.

Inferior court (Law), a court subject to the jurisdiction of another court known as the superior, or higher, court. — Inferior letter, Inferior figure (Print.), a small letter or figure standing at the bottom of the line (opposed to superior letter or figure), as in A2, Bn, 2 and n are inferior characters. — Inferior tide, the tide corresponding to the moon's transit of the meridian, when below the horizon.

In·fe′ri·or, n. A person lower in station, rank, intellect, etc., than another.

A great person gets more by obliging his inferior than by disdaining him. South.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.