superior1 adjectivesuperior2 noun
superiorsu‧pe‧ri‧or1 /suːˈpɪəriə $ sʊˈpɪriər/ ●●○ adjective 
WORD ORIGINsuperior1
Origin:
1300-1400 Old French superieur, from Latin superior ‘further above’, from superus ‘upper’, from super; ➔ SUPER-EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- superior craftsmanship
- a superior academic record
- a superior attitude
- Are you questioning the orders of a superior officer?
- Our aim is to provide our clients with a superior service at all times.
- She always acts so superior to everyone else.
- Style, comfort and superior cuisine are the most important characteristics of a good hotel.
- The company has a reputation for superior technology and customer loyalty.
- They claimed that a vegetarian diet was superior to a meat diet.
- Even without him, the force against which Rodrigo now found himself ranged was vastly superior to his own.
- For a significant theory, two tests are far superior to one.
- Instead, I laugh, a throaty, superior laugh.
- It seems unlikely that they will jeopardise their superior circumstances by combining in an alliance with Third World workers against capital.
- Lightbown's critical grasp of the bibliography and reading of the documents are superior to Bertelli's.
- The first was a genuine belief that the graphical interface was superior.
- We think that our own race is incomparably superior to any other...
THESAURUS
the comparative of good: · She wants a better job.· The sales figures were far better than expected.· Lucy’s better at French than I am.
better, especially in quality: · German cars are far superior.· a superior product· He thinks men are superior to women.
formal more suitable or useful – used when saying which one you prefer: · Cash would be preferable.· Anything would be preferable to the system we have now.
to be better than something that existed before: · The engine is a huge improvement on previous diesel engines.
to be slightly better than another person or thing – used especially when saying which one will win in a game or competition: · Federer is likely to have the edge in Sunday’s game.· For me, this film has the edge over the others.
(also be streets ahead (of somebody/something) British English) informal to be very much better than someone or something that you are competing against: · The company is streets ahead of its rivals.
spoken used to emphasize that one person or thing is clearly much better than someone or something else: · There’s no comparison between the two teams.· ‘Which apartment do you prefer?’ ‘Well, there’s no comparison. The first one we saw is bigger, quieter, and has much nicer furniture.’
Longman Language Activatorbetter than someone or something else · We could either go to Florida or California -- which do you think is better?better than · Your job is better than mine.· My sister is a better student than me.· The sales figures were better than we expected.better at something/doing something · Lucy's better at mathematics than I am.far better/much better/a lot better · His latest novel is far better than anything he's written before.better quality · Consumers are demanding lower prices, better quality, and a larger selection of goods.
products, skills, or services that are superior are better than those that they are competing against: · Our aim is to provide our clients with a superior service at all times.· The company has a reputation for superior technology and customer loyalty.superior to: · They claimed that a vegetarian diet was superior to a meat diet.
written goods or services that are of a higher standard or higher quality are better than they were previously or better than goods or services of a similar kind: · In the mid-eighties, American consumers began to purchase more and more Japanese products, believing they were better value and of higher quality.of a higher standard/of higher quality than: · Government officials are claiming that the health care available here is of a much higher standard than in neighbouring countries.
informal to be much better and more enjoyable than something else: · Jake's home-made burgers beat anything you can get at fast-food restaurants.beat doing something: · It's not a particularly good job, but it certainly beats being unemployed.
informal clearly better than others of the same type: · Musicians of the time admitted that the Ellington Orchestra was a cut above all others.a cut above the rest: · The first applicant we interviewed was definitely a cut above the rest.
to be slightly better than something or someone else: have the edge on/over something: · Their new laptop computer seems to have the edge on the competition.have the edge on/over somebody: · Having spent a year in Brazil, she hoped she would have the edge over the other language students.
to be better, more effective, and more useful than something else, especially because of a particular feature: have an advantage over something: · The fact that this computer is so simple to use means that it has an advantage over most other systems.have a distinct advantage over something (=have a clear advantage over something): · For certain types of work, natural wood has distinct advantages over plastics.
to be much more skilful and more successful at doing something than someone else: be more than a match for somebody: · When it comes to TV debates, Senator Murphy's more than a match for any of his rivals.be more than a match for something: · The rebel army's tactics are more than a match for the nation's military forces.
better than something of the usual type, for example by being more enjoyable, more useful, or of higher quality: · I don't want an ordinary wedding. I want something special.· Of my nine gold medals, this one is the most special.· Some aides privately complain that the Senator receives special treatment.
well made or of good quality · Lisa's work has been much better recently.· It's a good car, but it's very expensive.· It's worth paying a bit more for a good haircut.very good · There are one or two very good restaurants nearby.
if something is done or made well , it is done with a lot of care and skill, so that it is of a high standard: · Jean's playing much better since you gave her some lessons.· one of the best designed cars on the marketvery well: · Both books are very well written and enjoyable to read.do well: · Don't worry about the test - I'm sure you'll do well.
of extremely good quality or very well made: · The bank provides an excellent service for its customers.· They told me my English was excellent.
well made from good materials: · If you buy good quality shoes, they last much longer.· We only use the highest quality ingredients for our pizzas.of good/high quality: · handmade carpets of the highest quality
a product or service that is first-class is much better than most others: · Jaguar has always made first-class cars.· The food at the restaurant is always first-class.
of a very high quality and often valuable, rare, or very skilfully made: · The collar is made of finest English lace.· The train passes near Gate Manor, a fine Victorian mock Jacobean hall.
better made or of a better quality than most similar products - used especially in advertisements: · Style, comfort and superior cuisine are the most important characteristics of a good hotel.
: deluxe model/version/edition etc one that is of high quality because it has more features or uses better quality materials than others made by the same company: · The deluxe model comes complete with an in-car CD player and car-phone.· Longman has published a deluxe, leather-bound edition of Johnson's Dictionary.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYadverbs
He combined a formidable intellect with a talent for speaking.
1better, more powerful, more effective etc than a similar person or thing, especially one that you are competing against OPP inferior: · They soon realized that the opposing team’s players were far superior to their own.
(=very much better)· You’d be better off visiting the infinitely superior Imperial War Museum.
(=better because of its nature)· He believed that some races were inherently superior to others.
· They also accuse Christians of pretending to be morally superior.
· Our job is to convince consumers that our product is technically superior to its competitors.
nouns· Digital radios offer a superior quality of sound.
· This boat meets the needs of serious yachtsmen who demand superior performance.
· She was always showing off her superior knowledge.
· He used his superior strength to wrestle Ben to the ground.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES He combined a formidable intellect with a talent for speaking. formal (=good or better quality)· These speakers offer superior quality sound.
· Landowners had superior status.
(=greater than someone else's)· Using his superior strength, Rocky dragged the struggling Larsen another twenty yards back.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· In some respects they are clearly superior to normal books, for example they have database cross-referencing facilities ordinary volumes lack.· On the other side was Macintosh... gorgeous, a bit exotic, and clearly superior to the competition.· To establish one enema as clearly superior would have required many more patients.
· The rigidity and traction of the EBs was far superior to spongy plimsolls.· Cal looked like the far superior team, just as Stanford did when it was host.· Hand pinch pleat A hand pinch pleat heading, producing sharp, crisp pleats, is far superior to a taped version.· For a significant theory, two tests are far superior to one.· For Adam, his own patch offers far superior surf, surfers and girls.· But they found grassroots leaders who were far superior to the slobs they had been electing over the years.· This was a book I had thought far superior to the Reflexions sur la Violence.
· I am so pleased that we have solved the dilemma and we can feel morally superior!· Jealous, resentful, morally superior, I stayed on with the rest of the proletariat.· Verse is here the morally superior medium, but at least Boult redeems prose from its worst associations.
· It also required the state to have a technically superior form of organization.
· Even without him, the force against which Rodrigo now found himself ranged was vastly superior to his own.· Mariner 9, with its vastly superior vantage point in orbit around Mars, saw it all.· These three actions are vastly superior to breaking a habit by will-power alone.· The difference here is that the aesthetic appearance of the output will be vastly superior to that of a word processor.· Yet the two sets of Lieder are vastly superior as music.· But their skills are still vastly superior to those of their counterparts elsewhere in the world.· For two months a vastly superior army refused serious action against the rebels and finally backed them.
NOUN· The dotted line in each diagram separates the superior courts from the inferior courts.· Two weeks later, he appeared in superior court for a preliminary hearing, and he was bound over for trial.· The justice of the peace did, however, have to justify any decision to commit a case to a superior court.· Here the answer is just about any error the superior courts wish.
· Once again Charles applied superior force, and many of the rebels immediately submitted.· A new historical epoch is created by the development of superior forces of production by a new social group.· It was imposed from outside or above and by superior force.· Finally, he too was forced to submit by Henry's superior forces and greater supply of money.
· One possibility is that some superior form of modifiability occurred in the smell-brain, and I shall return to this later.· Competition and struggle exist, as parts of the mechanism by which organic life evolves to new and superior forms.· To its ideologies it was a superior form which embodied the best of both socialism and capitalism.· It also required the state to have a technically superior form of organization.
· So marvelous was the migrating instinct of birds that he could only ascribe it to the superior intelligence of their Creator.
· The invitation makes no declaration of superior knowledge, it demands no acceptance of a higher authority.· He has an intense commitment to the reform of collective life, improvement associated with science and the promise of superior knowledge.· In pursuing this object, they had the formidable weapons of their superior knowledge and direct executive control.
· He was a man who had mastered himself, and although his manner was informal he was manifestly the superior officer.· So is lying to a superior officer, whatever the cause.· He had been proved mistaken and had probably suffered a somewhat humiliating rebuff from his superior officer.· That is no way to address your superior officer.
· This is an easy trap to fall into because humans quite naturally promote people on the basis of superior performance.· The advantages Digirad claims are also similar: a smaller piece of equipment with superior performance.· The person who crosses the finish line first in a race has definitely had the most superior performance that day.· Points could be allowed for each quality, and the most superior performance could be determined.· Industrial production managers with a proven record of superior performance may advance to plant manager or vice president for manufacturing.· A concave underwater shape will give superior performance when you progress to an intermediate level.· But there were some superior performances out there.
· Bureaucracies are often credited with a monopoly of expertise which place them in a superior position to lay politicians.· Generally, they are intolerant of their wives functioning in a superior position.
· Coppelia ice-cream, a superior product, is served only in special parlours.· Even a superior product is not enough to carry a company very long these days.· The weapons were therefore a superior product at the forefront of developments in alloying.
· An upmarket, superior quality twit.· Rural Metro expands by offering superior quality for a lower price.· Antonietta had given her a blouse which, she noticed with interest, was of superior quality to her own.· In these later blind tests, employees identified the Hanes Sparta garments as being oi superior quality.· The superior quality of this mosaic -like many mosaics in when compared with those in Britain, is self-evident.· Maybe they come for our superior quality of life.· These fall into the category of superior quality in the lens and the shutter operation.· But they weren't the same superior quality as those Mr Watson Taylor brought because they wore out.
· They continue to marvel at his 6-foot-5 build, amazing speed and quickness and superior skills.
· In feudal society, a superior status was accorded to the land-owning aristocracy and gentry.· Lewis watched, aware of his superior status, leaving only the less likely customers to Tim.· It served above all to denote the superior status of chiefs against commoners.
· The defendant, because of his superior strength is able without much force to overcome her.· She was dimly conscious of an overpowering contrast, her female vulnerability against iron-hard male muscle and superior strength.
· Time and again, efforts to demonstrate a superior way of doing things backfired because some crucial element in the situation had been overlooked.· You have little chance of consistently interpreting information in a superior way.· But Fred was just a steward, and I had to pretend in a superior way to condescend to him.
Fletcher’s superior technique brought him victory.superior to Your computer is far superior to mine. He loves making fun of women. It makes him feel superior. a vastly superior (=very much better, stronger etc) army► see thesaurus at better2thinking that you are better than other people – used to show disapproval: She had that superior tone of voice.3[only before noun] having a higher position or rank than someone else OPP inferior: Don’t you usually salute a superior officer? a superior court4[only before noun] of very good quality – used especially in advertising: a superior wine → Mother SuperiorGRAMMAR• Something or someone is superior to another thing or person: · We can’t say one language is superior to another. ✗Don’t say: superior than• Superior already has ‘more’ as part of its meaning. ✗Don’t say: more superiorCOLLOCATIONSadverbsfar/vastly/greatly superior· They soon realized that the opposing team’s players were far superior to their own.infinitely superior (=very much better)· You’d be better off visiting the infinitely superior Imperial War Museum.inherently superior (=better because of its nature)· He believed that some races were inherently superior to others.morally superior· They also accuse Christians of pretending to be morally superior.technically superior· Our job is to convince consumers that our product is technically superior to its competitors.nounssuperior quality· Digital radios offer a superior quality of sound.superior performance· This boat meets the needs of serious yachtsmen who demand superior performance.superior knowledge/intelligence· She was always showing off her superior knowledge.superior strength/power· He used his superior strength to wrestle Ben to the ground.superior1 adjectivesuperior2 noun
superiorsuperior2 ●○○ noun [countable] EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- He failed to follow a direct order from his superior.
- Its chief selling point is the undoubted superiority of its after-sales service.
- The report he submitted to his superiors accurately reflected the poor morale of the workers.
- Women who have been harassed by male superiors often don't complain because they are afraid of losing their jobs.
- Your most important working relationship is with your immediate superior.
- As abbot of Bec, Anselm had owed obedience to several superiors whose permission he had sought before accepting the archbishopric.
- Like the new managers, most superiors emphasized that the manager was the one with formal authority and decision-making responsibility.
- Nor did Bo ever meet his superior, who passed him messages through an intermediary.
- Not until other assigned friars lost courage did his superiors send Serra with his student and confidant Francisco Palou to the work.
- Some superiors were more zealous than others to enforce the disciplinary code.
- The men shouted at superiors, damn near grew violent.
- The sergeant, the proverbial piggy-in-the-middle, was the ready scapegoat for both juniors and superiors.
- The uniformed cops and a couple of detectives were watching their superiors slug it out.
Longman Language Activatorsomeone who is in charge at work
someone who is in charge of a group of workers, and makes sure they do their jobs properly: · You must receive approval from a supervisor before visiting a high-risk area.· Haworth, formerly a supervisor of 120 people at a printing company, left to start his own business.
the person who is in charge of a company, department, or particular activity: head of: · According to Rice, the head of the planning committee, the project is 25% completed.be head of something: · Hwang is head of the local Communist Party, and is also a farmer.
someone who is in charge of a group of factory workers or builders and is responsible for seeing that orders from managers are carried out: · Time taken in unloading should be recorded by the foreman and paid at the agreed rate.
the person who is in charge of you at work: · As a secretary, my job includes taking my boss's phone calls.· She accuses her former boss of sexually harassing her.immediate boss (=the person who is directly in charge of you): · The managing director is a man but my immediate boss is a woman.be your own boss (=to run your own business and organize your own work): · I don't make as much money as I used to, but I prefer being my own boss.
someone whose job is to run part or all of a company or other organization and who is in charge of you at work: · He was a manager for Safeway Stores before leaving to start his own business.· If the sales clerk cannot help you, ask to see the manager.· McBride was a general manager in charge of research and development.line manager (=the person who is directly in charge of your work): · Notify your line manager if you are ill.
formal someone who is in a higher position than you at work: · The report he submitted to his superiors accurately reflected the poor morale of the workers.immediate superior (=the person in the position directly above you): · Your most important working relationship is with your immediate superior.
to be in a higher position than someone else in a higher position than someone else in an organization or company: · It's not the staff that are the problem. It's the people above them.· The next person above him is the sales manager.
to be in a higher position than someone else in an organization or company: · Technically I'm senior to Smith, but we do more or less the same job.· The men said they had no problems taking orders from women senior to them in rank.
your superior in the organization you work for is the person who has a higher rank than you: · He failed to follow a direct order from his superior.· Women who have been harassed by male superiors often don't complain because they are afraid of losing their jobs.
also rank American to be in a higher position in an organization, especially the army: · Successful sales staff will outrank less successful workers, regardless of qualifications.· Because Barnett ranks him, they have to be discreet about their romance.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY He had a good working relationship with his immediate superior (=the person directly above him).COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES He combined a formidable intellect with a talent for speaking.
someone who has a higher rank or position than you, especially in a job: He had a good working relationship with his immediate superior (=the person directly above him). He combined a formidable intellect with a talent for speaking. formal (=good or better quality)· These speakers offer superior quality sound.
· Landowners had superior status.
(=greater than someone else's)· Using his superior strength, Rocky dragged the struggling Larsen another twenty yards back.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· Restoring a damaged relationship with a superior Your most important working relationship is with your immediate superior.· Can teachers be disciplined for publicly criticizing their immediate superiors?· The managers generally failed to take advantage of a potentially valuable resource, their immediate superiors.· Clint Eastwood is usually threatened with dismissal in his detective movies, sometimes because his immediate superior is on the take.
He had a good working relationship with his immediate superior (=the person directly above him).