Both Uses of
inferior
in
Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis
- However charitable toward the Lower Classes she may have thought herself, Carol had been reared to assume that servants belong to a distinct and inferior species.†
Chpt 9inferior = (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
- She took it off, shook her head, explained with the kind smile for inferiors, "I'm afraid it won't do, though it's unusually nice for so small a town as this."†
Chpt 29 *inferiors = People who are of lower rank or status
Definitions:
-
(1)
(inferior) 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
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Less commonly, specialized senses include:- anatomy and botany -- a lower position on a body or plant (or pointed downward)
- typography -- a character that drops beneath a printing line (such as with subscript)
- astronomy -- having an orbit relative to the sun that is lower than earth's (making Mercury and Venus inferior planets)