Inferior vs. Subordinate — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Inferior and Subordinate
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Definitions
Inferior➦
Lower in rank, status, or quality
Schooling in inner-city areas was inferior to that in the rest of the country
Subordinate➦
Lower in rank or position
His subordinate officers
Inferior➦
Low or lower in position
Ulcers located in the inferior and posterior wall of the duodenum
Subordinate➦
A person under the authority or control of another within an organization
He was mild-mannered, especially with his subordinates
Inferior➦
(of a letter, figure, or symbol) written or printed below the line.
Subordinate➦
Treat or regard as of lesser importance than something else
Practical considerations were subordinated to political expediency
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Inferior➦
A person lower than another in rank, status, or ability
Her social and intellectual inferiors
Subordinate➦
Belonging to a lower or inferior class or rank; secondary.
Inferior➦
An inferior letter, figure, or symbol.
Subordinate➦
Subject to the authority or control of another.
Inferior➦
Low or lower in order, degree, or rank
Captain is an inferior rank to major.
Subordinate➦
One that is subordinate.
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Inferior➦
Low or lower in quality, value, or estimation
Inferior craft.
Felt inferior to his older sibling.
Subordinate➦
To put in a lower or inferior rank or class.
Inferior➦
Second-rate; poor
An inferior translation.
Subordinate➦
To make subservient; subdue.
Inferior➦
Situated under or beneath.
Subordinate➦
Placed in a lower class, rank, or position.
Inferior➦
(Botany) Located below the perianth and other floral parts. Used of an ovary.
Subordinate➦
Submissive or inferior to, or controlled by authority.
Inferior➦
(Anatomy) Located beneath or directed downward.
Subordinate➦
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”.
Inferior➦
(Printing) Set below the normal line of type; subscript.
Subordinate➦
Descending in a regular series.
Inferior➦
Orbiting between Earth and the sun
Mercury is an inferior planet.
Subordinate➦
(countable) One who is subordinate.
Inferior➦
Lying below the horizon.
Subordinate➦
(transitive) To make subservient.
Inferior➦
A person lower in rank, status, or accomplishment than another.
Subordinate➦
(transitive) To treat as of less value or importance.
Inferior➦
(Printing) An inferior character, such as the number 2 in CO2.
Subordinate➦
To make of lower priority in order of payment in bankruptcy.
Inferior➦
Lower in rank, status, or quality.
Anna had always felt inferior to her brother due to poor school grades.
The pathological liar was morally inferior to his much nicer constituents.
Subordinate➦
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.
Inferior➦
Of low rank, standard or quality.
An inferior officer
Subordinate➦
Inferior in order, nature, dignity, power, importance, or the like.
It was subordinate, not enslaved, to the understanding.
Inferior➦
(law) of a court or tribunal Susceptible to having its decisions overturned by a higher court.
Subordinate➦
One who stands in order or rank below another; - distinguished from a principal.
Inferior➦
(economics) Denoting goods or services which are in greater demand during a recession than in a boom, for example second-hand clothes.
Subordinate➦
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.
Inferior➦
Located below:
Subordinate➦
To make subject; to subject or subdue; as, to subordinate the passions to reason.
Inferior➦
(anatomy) Situated further below (another part of the body), a direction that in humans corresponds to caudad.
Subordinate➦
An assistant subject to the authority or control of another
Inferior➦
(zoology) Situated in a relatively low posterior or ventral position in a quadrupedal body.
Subordinate➦
A word that is more specific than a given word
Inferior➦
(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.
Subordinate➦
Rank or order as less important or consider of less value;
Art is sometimes subordinated to Science in these schools
Inferior➦
(botany) On the side of a flower which is next to the bract.
Subordinate➦
Make subordinate, dependent, or subservient;
Our wishes have to be subordinated to that of our ruler
Inferior➦
(typography) Printed in subscript.
An inferior figure or letter
Subordinate➦
Lower in rank or importance
Inferior➦
(astronomy) Below the horizon.
The inferior part of a meridian
Subordinate➦
Subject or submissive to authority or the control of another;
A subordinate kingdom
Inferior➦
(astronomy) Nearer to the Sun than the Earth is.
The inferior or interior planets; an inferior conjunction of Mercury or Venus
Subordinate➦
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
Inferior➦
A person of lower rank, stature, or ability to another.
As you are my inferior, I can tell you to do anything I want.
Subordinate➦
Inferior in rank or status;
The junior faculty
A lowly corporal
Petty officialdom
A subordinate functionary
Inferior➦
(printing) An inferior letter, figure, or symbol.
Inferior➦
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.
Inferior➦
Poor or mediocre; as, an inferior quality of goods.
Inferior➦
Nearer the sun than the earth is; as, the inferior or interior planets; an inferior conjunction of Mercury or Venus.
Inferior➦
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.
Inferior➦
Junior or subordinate in rank; as, an inferior officer.
Inferior➦
A person lower in station, rank, intellect, etc., than another.
A great person gets more by obliging his inferior than by disdaining him.
Inferior➦
One of lesser rank or station or quality
Inferior➦
A character or symbol set or printed or written beneath or slightly below and to the side of another character
Inferior➦
Of or characteristic of low rank or importance
Inferior➦
Of low or inferior quality
Inferior➦
Inferior in rank or status;
The junior faculty
A lowly corporal
Petty officialdom
A subordinate functionary
Inferior➦
Written or printed below and to one side of another character
Inferior➦
Having an orbit between the sun and the Earth's orbit;
Mercury and Venus are inferior planets
Inferior➦
Lower than a given reference point;
Inferior alveolar artery
Inferior➦
Falling short of some prescribed norm;
Substandard housing
