superior

pronunciation

How to pronounce superior in British English: UK [suːˈpɪəriə(r)] word uk audio image

How to pronounce superior in American English: US [suːˈpɪriər] word us audio image

Noun:

one of greater rank or station or quality
the head of a religious community
a combatant who is able to defeat rivals
a character or symbol set or printed or written above and immediately to one side of another character
Adjective:

of high or superior quality or performance
of or characteristic of high rank or importance
(sometimes followed by `to') not subject to or influenced by
written or printed above and to one side of another character
having an orbit farther from the sun than the Earth's orbit
having a higher rank
(often followed by `to') above being affected or influenced by

Word Origin

superior (adj.): late 14c., "higher in position," from Old French superior "higher, upper" (Modern French superieur), from Latin superiorem (nominative superior) "higher," comparative of superus "situated above, upper," from super "above, over" (see super-). Meaning "higher in rank or dignity" is attested from late 15c.; sense of "of a higher nature or character" is attested from 1530s. Original sense was preserved more strongly in French (as in les étages supérieur "the upper stories"), and in Lake Superior, a loan-translation of French Lac Supérieur, literally "upper lake" (at 600 feet above sea-level it has the highest surface elevation of the five Great Lakes and is the furthest north). Surprise a person of the class that is supposed to keep servants cleaning his own boots, & either he will go on with the job while he talks to you, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, or else he will explain that the bootboy or scullery-maid is ill & give you to understand that he is, despite appearances, superior to boot-cleaning. If he takes the second course, you conclude that he is not superior to it; if the first, that perhaps he is. [Fowler]

superior (n.): early 15c., from Latin superior (see superior (adj.)), used in Medieval Latin with a noun sense of "one higher, a superior."

adj.

adj.

2. Test the waters with someone you trust before going to hr or a superior .

4. Profits would come from superior products , top executives reckoned correctly .

5. But superior economic growth does not necessarily translate into equity returns .