Inferior vs. Subordinate

Inferioradjective

of lower quality

‘Anna had always felt inferior to her brother due to poor school grades.’;

Subordinateadjective

Placed in a lower class, rank, or position.

Inferioradjective

of lower rank

‘an inferior officer’;

Subordinateadjective

Submissive or inferior to, or controlled by, authority.

Inferioradjective

located below

Subordinateadjective

dependent on and either modifying or complementing the main clause

‘In the sentence “The barbecue finished before John arrived”, the subordinate clause “before John arrived” specifies the time of the main clause, “The barbecue finished”.’;

Inferioradjective

(typography) Printed in subscript.

‘an inferior figure or letter’;

Subordinateadjective

Descending in a regular series.

Inferioradjective

(botany) 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.

Subordinatenoun

(countable) One who is subordinate.

Inferioradjective

(botany) On the side of a flower which is next to the bract; anterior.

Subordinateverb

(transitive) To make subservient.

Inferioradjective

(astronomy) Nearer to the Sun than the Earth is.

‘the inferior or interior planets; an inferior conjunction of Mercury or Venus’;

Subordinateverb

(transitive) To treat as of less value or importance.

Inferioradjective

(astronomy) Below the horizon.

‘the inferior part of a meridian’;

Subordinateverb

To make of lower priority in order of payment in bankruptcy.

Inferiornoun

a person of lower stature to another

‘As you are my inferior, I can tell you to do anything I want.’;

Subordinateadjective

Placed in a lower order, class, or rank; holding a lower or inferior position.

‘The several kinds and subordinate species of each are easily distinguished.’;

Inferioradjective

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

‘A thousand inferior and particular propositions.’; ‘The body, or, as some love to call it, our inferior nature.’; ‘Whether they are equal or inferior to my other poems, an author is the most improper judge.’;

Subordinateadjective

Inferior in order, nature, dignity, power, importance, or the like.

‘It was subordinate, not enslaved, to the understanding.’;

Inferioradjective

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

Subordinatenoun

One who stands in order or rank below another; - distinguished from a principal.

Inferioradjective

Nearer the sun than the earth is; as, the inferior or interior planets; an inferior conjunction of Mercury or Venus.

Subordinateverb

To place in a lower order or class; to make or consider as of less value or importance; as, to subordinate one creature to another.

Inferioradjective

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.

Subordinateverb

To make subject; to subject or subdue; as, to subordinate the passions to reason.

Inferioradjective

Junior or subordinate in rank; as, an inferior officer.

Subordinatenoun

an assistant subject to the authority or control of another

Inferiornoun

A person lower in station, rank, intellect, etc., than another.

‘A great person gets more by obliging his inferior than by disdaining him.’;

Subordinatenoun

a word that is more specific than a given word

Inferiornoun

one of lesser rank or station or quality

Subordinateverb

rank or order as less important or consider of less value;

‘Art is sometimes subordinated to Science in these schools’;

Inferiornoun

a character or symbol set or printed or written beneath or slightly below and to the side of another character

Subordinateverb

make subordinate, dependent, or subservient;

‘Our wishes have to be subordinated to that of our ruler’;

Inferioradjective

of or characteristic of low rank or importance

Subordinateadjective

lower in rank or importance

Inferioradjective

of low or inferior quality

Subordinateadjective

subject or submissive to authority or the control of another;

‘a subordinate kingdom’;

Inferioradjective

inferior in rank or status;

‘the junior faculty’; ‘a lowly corporal’; ‘petty officialdom’; ‘a subordinate functionary’;

Subordinateadjective

of a clause; unable to stand alone syntactically as a complete sentence;

‘a subordinate (or dependent) clause functions as a noun or adjective or adverb within a sentence’;

Inferioradjective

written or printed below and to one side of another character

Subordinateadjective

inferior in rank or status;

‘the junior faculty’; ‘a lowly corporal’; ‘petty officialdom’; ‘a subordinate functionary’;

Inferioradjective

having an orbit between the sun and the Earth's orbit;

‘Mercury and Venus are inferior planets’;

Subordinateadjective

lower in rank or position

‘his subordinate officers’;

Inferioradjective

lower than a given reference point;

‘inferior alveolar artery’;

Subordinateadjective

of less or secondary importance

‘in adventure stories, character must be subordinate to action’;

Inferioradjective

falling short of some prescribed norm;

‘substandard housing’;

Subordinatenoun

a person under the authority or control of another within an organization

‘he was mild-mannered, especially with his subordinates’;

Inferioradjective

lower in rank, status, or quality

‘schooling in inner-city areas was inferior to that in the rest of the country’;

Subordinateverb

treat or regard as of lesser importance than something else

‘practical considerations were subordinated to political expediency’;

Inferioradjective

of low standard or quality

‘inferior goods’;

Subordinateverb

make subservient to or dependent on something else

‘to define life would be to subordinate it to reason’;

Inferioradjective

(of a court or tribunal) susceptible to having its decisions overturned by a higher court.

Inferioradjective

denoting goods or services which are in greater demand during a recession than in a boom, for example second-hand clothes.

Inferioradjective

low or lower in position

‘ulcers located in the inferior and posterior wall of the duodenum’;

Inferioradjective

(of the ovary of a flower) situated below the sepals and enclosed in the receptacle.

Inferioradjective

(of a letter, figure, or symbol) written or printed below the line.

Inferiornoun

a person lower than another in rank, status, or ability

‘her social and intellectual inferiors’;

Inferiornoun

an inferior letter, figure, or symbol.