Superior

How to spell superior

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce superior

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does superior mean?

1. adjectiveHigher in quality, rank, status, or importance than something or someone else.
2. nounA person of higher rank or position, especially someone one reports to at work.

Superior in a sentence

• adjective

  The new model uses superior materials that last far longer.

• noun

  He raised the complaint with his immediate superior at the office.

• adjective

  She felt the rival firm offered a superior service at the same price.

• noun

  Every grievance must be reported to a superior before escalation.

Where does superior come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes directly from the Latin superior, the comparative form of the adjective superus, meaning 'situated above' or 'higher'. That in turn was built on the preposition super, meaning 'above' or 'over', a root that still surfaces in everyday words like supervise and superstructure. English adopted superior through Old French in the late 1300s, at first describing something physically higher in position before the sense broadened to mean higher in rank, quality, or status. The same comparative ending, -ior, appears in its natural partner inferior ('lower'), and remembering that pairing helps fix the spelling. The trickiest part for writers is the unstressed ending, since the word sounds like it might finish in '-eor' or '-ier', when in fact it keeps the original Latin '-ior'.

How the word is built

• super- (above, over)
• -ior (Latin comparative suffix: more)