Both Uses of
inferior
in
The Idiot
- In the American War some of the most advanced Liberals took sides with the planters on the score that the blacks were an inferior race to the whites, and that might was the right of the white race.†
Chpt 2.10inferior = (adjective) of low quality, or of lower quality or rank than something else OR (more rarely as a noun) a person of lower rank or status
- He accounted them immeasurably his inferiors, and it was this feeling which caused his special amiability and delightful ease and grace towards them.†
Chpt 4.6 *inferiors = People who are of lower rank or status
Definition:
of low quality, or of lower quality or rank than something else -- sometimes used as a noun to refer to a person of lower rank or status