SUPERIOR • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Superior

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/supˈɪriər/ Listen

adjective

Superior adj.

1.

More elevated in place or position; higher; upper; as, the superior limb of the sun; the superior part of an image.

2.

Higher in rank or office; more exalted in dignity; as, a superior officer; a superior degree of nobility.

3.

Higher or greater in excellence; surpassing others in the greatness, or value of any quality; greater in quality or degree; as, a man of superior merit; or of superior bravery.

4.

Beyond the power or influence of; too great or firm to be subdued or affected by; with to. "There is not in earth a spectacle more worthy than a great man superior to his sufferings."

5.

More comprehensive; as a term in classification; as, a genus is superior to a species.

6.

(Bot.)

(a)

Above the ovary; said of parts of the flower which, although normally below the ovary, adhere to it, and so appear to originate from its upper part; also of an ovary when the other floral organs are plainly below it in position, and free from it.

(b)

Belonging to the part of an axillary flower which is toward the main stem; posterior.

(c)

Pointing toward the apex of the fruit; ascending; said of the radicle.

Superior conjunction, Superior planets, etc. See Conjunction, Planet, etc.

Superior figure, Superior letter (Print.), a figure or letter printed above the line, as a reference to a note or an index of a power, etc; as, in x^(2) + y^(n), 2 is a superior figure, n a superior letter. Cf. Inferior figure, under Inferior.

noun

Superior n.

1.

One who is above, or surpasses, another in rank, station, office, age, ability, or merit; one who surpasses in what is desirable; as, Addison has no superior as a writer of pure English.

2.

(Eccl.) The head of a monastery, convent, abbey, or the like.

See images of 'Superior'

Etymology of 'Superior'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Superior" Quotes from Famous Books

... students are taken over the Holy Places to study the inscriptions and evidences of Christianity, and the most learned and brilliant members of the Order are engaged in research and study that fits them to combat the errors of the Higher Criticism. Their work, which is of a very superior order, has attracted attention among scholars ...

— The Interdependence of Literature • Georgina Pell Curtis

... the evidence given before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, and newspaper correspondence. At that time many of the Federal reports were not to be had: such as were at the War Department were hardly accessible. Reports had been duly made by all superior officers engaged in and surviving this campaign, excepting only the general in command; but, strange to say, not only did Gen. Hooker refrain from making a report, but he retained in his personal possession many of the ...

— The Campaign of Chancellorsville • Theodore A. Dodge

... who had resumed his pen, took no notice whatever, but went on writing while one of the constables prepared to obey his superior's orders. In his indignation the young Scot resolved to fling out of the office and leave the police to do as they pleased in the matter, but, glancing at Susy as he turned round, he again met the gaze of ...

— The Garret and the Garden • R.M. Ballantyne

... house. The boy's father is dead. There's a quaint old beggar, if you like—the grandfather. He was rather a swell in the diplomatic, in his day, it seems—rather an important swell. Now he's bedridden. He sits all day in bed and plays cards with his granddaughter or with a very superior valet, and talks politics with the men who come to see him. Oh yes, he's a quaint old beggar. He has a great quantity of white hair and an enormous square white beard and the fiercest eyes I ever saw, I should ...

— Jason • Justus Miles Forman

... upon her, "that though I accept in all reverence the position of woman as the equal of man, as promulgated in The Princess, by our lion-hearted Laureate, nevertheless I advance beyond him in that respect. I hold"—in a voice calculated to impress the whole table—"that woman is man's superior, and that she degrades herself when she endeavors to place herself ...

— Red Pottage • Mary Cholmondeley

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