different between inferior vs rank

English

Alternative forms

• inferiour (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ?nferior (“lower in situation or place”), comparative of ?nferus (“below, underneath”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?nfîr??r
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?f??.?i.?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?f??.i.?/
• Rhymes: -???i?(?)

Adjective

inferior (comparative more inferior, superlative most inferior)

1. Lower in rank, status, or quality.
   1. Of low rank, standard or quality.

   2. (law) (of a court or tribunal) Susceptible to having its decisions overturned by a higher court.
   3. (economics) Denoting goods or services which are in greater demand during a recession than in a boom, for example second-hand clothes.
2. Located below:
   1. (anatomy) Situated below another and especially another similar superior part of an upright body.
   2. (zoology) Situated in a relatively low posterior or ventral position in a quadrupedal body.
   3. (botany) Situated below some other organ; said of a calyx when free from the ovary, and therefore below it, or of an ovary with an adherent and therefore inferior calyx.
   4. (botany) On the side of a flower which is next to the bract.

      Synonym: anterior

   5. (typography) Printed in subscript.

   6. (astronomy) Below the horizon.

3. (astronomy) Nearer to the Sun than the Earth is.

Usage notes

Inferior and superior are generally followed by to; than is seen sometimes, but is viewed as wrong.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:bad

Antonyms

• superior

Coordinate terms

• (dentistry location adjectives) anterior,? apical,? apicocoronal,? axial,? buccal,? buccoapical,? buccocervical,? buccogingival,? buccolabial,? buccolingual,? bucco-occlusal,? buccopalatal,? cervical,? coronal,? coronoapical,? distal,? distoapical,? distobuccal,? distocervical,? distocoronal,? distofacial,? distogingival,? distoincisal,? distolingual,? disto-occlusal,? distoclusal,? distocclusal,? distopalatal,? facial,? gingival,? incisal,? incisocervical,? inferior,? labial,? lingual,? linguobuccal,? linguo-occlusal,? mandibular,? maxillary,? mesial,? mesioapical,? mesiobuccal,? mesiocervical,? mesiocoronal,? mesiodistal,? mesiofacial,? mesioincisal,? mesiogingival,? mesiolingual,? mesio-occlusal,? mesioclusal,? mesiocclusal,? mesiopalatal,? occlusal,? palatal,? posterior,? proximal,? superior,? vestibular ^{(Category: en:Dentistry) [edit]}

Derived terms

Related terms

• Armenia Inferior
• limit inferior

Translations

Noun

inferior (plural inferiors)

1. A person of lower rank, stature, or ability to another.

   Antonym: superior

2. (printing) An inferior letter, figure, or symbol.

Translations

References

• “inferior”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “inferior”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).
• inferior in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• inferior at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• fire iron, fireiron

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin ?nferior.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /im.f?.?i?o/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /im.fe.?i?o?/

Adjective

inferior (masculine and feminine plural inferiors)

1. inferior
2. lower

Related terms

• inferioritat

Further reading

• “inferior” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “inferior” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “inferior” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “inferior” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ?nferior (“lower, inferior”), the comparative of ?nferus (“low, nether, underground”).

Adjective

inferior (not comparable)

1. subordinate, secondary
2. (of people) inferior

3. substandard, bad

Declension

Further reading

• “inferior” in Duden online

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /in?fe.ri.or/, [???f??i?r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /in?fe.ri.or/, [in?f???i?r]

Adjective

?nferior (neuter ?nferius, positive ?nferus); third declension

1. comparative degree of ?nferus, lower in situation or place:
   1. Subsequent, later, latter in time or succession.
   2. Inferior in quality, rank, or number.

Inflection

Third-declension comparative adjective.

Related terms

• infimus (superlative)

Descendants

References

• inferior in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• inferior in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• inferior in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin ?nferior.

Pronunciation

Adjective

inferior m (feminine singular inferiora, masculine plural inferiors, feminine plural inferioras)

1. inferior
2. lower

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin inferior.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /?.f???jo?/
• Hyphenation: in?fe?ri?or

Adjective

inferior m or f (plural inferiores, comparable)

1. inferior

   Antonym: superior

Romanian

Etymology

From French inférieur, from Latin inferior.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?in.fe.ri?or/

Adjective

inferior m or n (feminine singular inferioar?, masculine plural inferiori, feminine and neuter plural inferioare)

1. inferior

Declension

Antonyms

• superior

Related terms

• inferioritate

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin inferior.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /infe??jo?/, [??.fe??jo?]
• Hyphenation: in?fe?rior

Adjective

inferior (plural inferiores)

1. inferior (of lower quality)
2. inferior (of lower rank)
3. inferior (below)

Antonyms

• superior

Derived terms

Related terms

• inferioridad

Further reading

• “inferior” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

Translingual

Symbol

rank

1. (mathematics) The symbol for rank.

English

Alternative forms

• ranck (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æ?k/
• Rhymes: -æ?k

Etymology 1

From Middle English rank (“strong, proud”), from Old English ranc (“proud, haughty, arrogant, insolent, forward, overbearing, showy, ostentatious, splendid, bold, valiant, noble, brave, strong, full-grown, mature”), from Proto-West Germanic *rank, from Proto-Germanic *rankaz (“straight”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?re?- (“straight, direct”). Cognate with Dutch rank (“slender, slim”), Low German rank (“slender, projecting, lank”), Danish rank (“straight, erect, slender”), Swedish rank (“slender, shaky, wonky”), Icelandic rakkur (“straight, slender, bold, valiant”).

Adjective

rank (comparative ranker or more rank, superlative rankest or most rank)

1. Strong of its kind or in character; unmitigated; virulent; thorough; utter (used of negative things).
2. Strong in growth; growing with vigour or rapidity, hence, coarse or gross.

   • And, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.
3. Suffering from overgrowth or hypertrophy; plethoric.
4. Causing strong growth; producing luxuriantly; rich and fertile.
5. Strong to the senses; offensive; noisome.
6. Having a very strong and bad taste or odor.

   Synonyms: stinky, smelly, (UK) pong

   • 1661, Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist

     Divers sea fowls taste rank of the fish on which they ordinarily feed.

7. Complete, used as an intensifier (usually negative, referring to incompetence).

   Synonyms: complete, utter
8. (informal) Gross, disgusting.
9. (obsolete) Strong; powerful; capable of acting or being used with great effect; energetic; vigorous; headstrong.
10. (obsolete) lustful; lascivious

Derived terms

• ranken
• rankful

Translations

Adverb

rank (comparative more rank, superlative most rank)

1. (obsolete) Quickly, eagerly, impetuously.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.iii:

     The seely man seeing him ryde so rancke, / And ayme at him, fell flat to ground for feare [...].

   • That rides so rank and bends his lance so fell.

Etymology 2

From Middle English rank (“line, row”), from Old French ranc, rang, reng (“line, row, rank”) (Modern French rang), from Frankish *hring (“ring”), from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“something bent or curved”).

Akin to Old High German (h)ring, Old Frisian hring, Old English hring, hrincg (“ring”) (Modern English ring), Old Norse hringr (“ring, circle, queue, sword; ship”). More at ring.

Noun

rank (countable and uncountable, plural ranks)

1. A row of people or things organized in a grid pattern, often soldiers.

   Antonym: file

   The front rank kneeled to reload while the second rank fired over their heads.
2. (chess) One of the eight horizontal lines of squares on a chessboard (i.e., those identified by a number).

   Antonym: file

3. (music) In a pipe organ, a set of pipes of a certain quality for which each pipe corresponds to one key or pedal.
4. One's position in a list sorted by a shared property such as physical location, population, or quality.

   Based on your test scores, you have a rank of 23.

   The fancy hotel was of the first rank.

6. The level of one's position in a class-based society.
7. (typically in the plural) A category of people, such as those who share an occupation or belong to an organisation.

   a membership drawn from the ranks of wealthy European businessmen
9. A hierarchical level in an organization such as the military.

   Private First Class (PFC) is the second-lowest rank in the Marines.

   He rose up through the ranks of the company, from mailroom clerk to CEO.

10. (taxonomy) A level in a scientific taxonomy system.

    Phylum is the taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class.

11. (mathematics) The dimensionality of an array (computing) or tensor.
13. (linear algebra) The maximal number of linearly independent columns (or rows) of a matrix.
14. (algebra) The maximum quantity of D-linearly independent elements of a module (over an integral domain D).
15. (mathematics) The size of any basis of a given matroid.

Derived terms

• break rank
• cab off the rank
• cab rank
• cab-rank rule
• close ranks
• pull rank
• taxi rank

Translations

Verb

rank (third-person singular simple present ranks, present participle ranking, simple past and past participle ranked)

1. To place abreast, or in a line.
2. To have a ranking.

   Their defense ranked third in the league.

3. To assign a suitable place in a class or order; to classify.
   • 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick, or The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry After Truth With a Variety of Rules to Guard

     Ranking all things under general and special heads.

   • 1726, William Broome, The Odyssey (by Homer)

     Poets were ranked in the class of philosophers.

   • 1667, Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety

     Heresy [is] ranked with idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, murders, and other sins of the flesh.

4. (US) To take rank of; to outrank.

Derived terms

• misrank
• outrank

Translations

References

• rank at OneLook Dictionary Search
• rank in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• ARNK, Karn, karn, knar, kran, nark

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /r??k/
• Hyphenation: rank
• Rhymes: -??k

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch ranc, from Proto-Germanic *rankaz.

Adjective

rank (comparative ranker, superlative rankst)

1. slender, svelte

Inflection

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch ranc, ranke, from Old Dutch *rank, from Frankish hranca.

Noun

rank f (plural ranken, diminutive rankje n)

1. tendril, a thin winding stem

Anagrams

• karn

References

German

Etymology

From Middle Low German rank, ranc, from Proto-Germanic *rankaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?k/

Adjective

rank (comparative ranker, superlative am ranksten)

1. (poetic, dated, except in the phrase rank und schlank) lithe, lissome

Declension

Related terms

• rahn

Verb

rank

1. singular imperative of ranken

Further reading

• “rank” in Duden online