superior
part of speech
adjective (superior); noun (a superior, superiors)
meaning for a pupil
1) Better in quality or more skilled than others: superior goods. tree →
2) Higher in rank or position: a superior officer. tree →
3) Behaving as if you are better than others: a superior smile. tree →
4) Noun: a person of higher rank, like a boss. tree →
5) (science, anatomy) Higher up or above, as in the superior vena cava. tree →
6) Mother Superior: the head of a convent. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life «superior quality» is used in adverts. In stories a character who acts superior is proud and looks down on others. In the army and work, you obey your superiors. In maths «superior to» is formal for «greater than» or «better than». Lake Superior is one of the Great Lakes.
examples
- This glue is superior to the cheap one. tree →
- The soldier saluted his superior officer. tree →
- She gave a superior smile and walked off. tree →
- Our team had superior skill and won easily. tree →
- Report problems to your superior. tree →
- Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes. tree →
- The instrument had a superior tone and delighted all who heard it. tree →
note
Use «superior to», not «superior than». Opposite: inferior. Noun: superiority. Do not be «superior» in the sense of showing off — it is rude.
In the corpora
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «superior» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.