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SUPERIORITY
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The quality of being superior
Synonyms:
high quality; superiority
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("superiority" is a kind of...):
caliber; calibre; quality (a degree or grade of excellence or worth)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "superiority"):
choiceness; fineness (the quality of being very good indeed)
first class (the highest rank in a classification)
first water (the highest quality gems)
cleverness; ingeniousness; ingenuity (the property of being ingenious)
Antonym:
inferiority (an inferior quality)
Derivation:
superior (of high or superior quality or performance)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Displaying a sense of being better than others
Example:
he hated the white man's superiority and condescension
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("superiority" is a kind of...):
arrogance; haughtiness; hauteur; high-handedness; lordliness (overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The quality of being at a competitive advantage
Synonyms:
favorable position; favourable position; superiority
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("superiority" is a kind of...):
advantage; vantage (the quality of having a superior or more favorable position)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "superiority"):
edge (a slight competitive advantage)
inside track (a favorable position in a competition)
upper hand; whip hand (position of advantage and control)
Derivation:
superior (having a higher rank)
superior (of or characteristic of high rank or importance)
Sense 4
Meaning:
The state of excelling or surpassing or going beyond usual limits
Synonyms:
superiority; transcendence; transcendency
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("superiority" is a kind of...):
domination; mastery; supremacy (power to dominate or defeat)
Derivation:
superior ((sometimes followed by 'to') not subject to or influenced by)
Context examples:
He smiled with an ineffably benign superiority.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
I write for the noblest end, to inform and instruct mankind; over whom I may, without breach of modesty, pretend to some superiority, from the advantages I received by conversing so long among the most accomplished Houyhnhnms.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
If anyone had told me, then, that all this was a brilliant game, played for the excitement of the moment, for the employment of high spirits, in the thoughtless love of superiority, in a mere wasteful careless course of winning what was worthless to him, and next minute thrown away—I say, if anyone had told me such a lie that night, I wonder in what manner of receiving it my indignation would have found a vent!
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
The motive was too common to be wondered at; but the means, however they might succeed by establishing his superiority in ill-breeding, were not likely to attach any one to him except his wife.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
As a matter of ethics isn't the man who gives a bribe as bad as the man who takes a bribe? The receiver is as bad as the thief, you know; and you needn't console yourself with any fictitious moral superiority concerning this little deal.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
Their superiority of abode was no more to them than their superiority of person.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
The passing admiration of Mr Elliot had at least roused him, and the scenes on the Cobb and at Captain Harville's had fixed her superiority.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Even in the midst of his late infatuation, he had acknowledged Fanny's mental superiority.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Think, then, what I must have endured in hearing it bandied between the Eltons with all the vulgarity of needless repetition, and all the insolence of imaginary superiority.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Yet his dominant nature asserted itself, and he had first to thrash them into an acknowledgment of his superiority and leadership.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
