Both Uses

inferior
in
Words by Heart
(Auto-generated)

Children being taught every day that God meant them to be inferior.†
Chpt 3

inferior = (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
Yes, Elsie, throughout history the superior races have necessarily shouldered the burden of ruling the inferior ones.†
Chpt 11 *

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)
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)