Definition of "superior"

superior

/suːˈpɪə.ɹi.ə/

adjective
not comparable
1. Higher in rank, status, or quality.
  Quotations
  There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs, […], and all these articles […] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
  Additionally, reliability proved to be superior to NBL's design, with an average of 120,000 miles run during 1959.
  2022 January 12, David Clough, “From Germany with love: a Warship perspective”, in RAIL, number 948, page 46
  1. Of high standard or quality.
  2. Greater in size or power.
  3. (superior to) Beyond the power or influence of; too great or firm to be subdued or affected by.
    Quotations
    There is not in earth a spectacle more worthy […] than a brave man superior to his sufferings.
    1711 December 12 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SATURDAY, December 1, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 237; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853
  4. Greater or better than average.
2. Courageously or serenely indifferent (as to something painful or disheartening).
3. (typography) Printed in superscript.
4. Located above or out; higher in position.
  1. (anatomy, medicine) Located above or higher, a direction that in humans corresponds to cephalad.
  2. (botany) (of a calyx) Above the ovary; said of parts of the flower which, although normally below the ovary, adhere to it, and so appear to originate from its upper part.
  3. (botany) (of an ovary) Above and free from the other floral organs.
  4. (botany) Belonging to the part of an axillary flower which is toward the main stem.
  5. (botany) (of the radicle) Pointing toward the apex of the fruit.
5. (taxonomy) More comprehensive.
6. Affecting or assuming an air of superiority.
7. (astronomy) (of a planet) Closer to the Earth than to the Sun.
noun
plural superiors
1. A person of higher rank or quality, especially a colleague in a higher position.
  1. The senior person in a monastic community.
  2. The head of certain religious institutions and colleges.
2. (printing) A superior letter, figure, or symbol.
3. (Scotland, law, historical) One who has made an original grant of heritable property to a tenant or vassal, on condition of a certain annual payment (feu duty) or of the performance of certain services.