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Mawson, C.O.S., ed. (1870–1938). Roget’s International Thesaurus. 1922.

Class I. Words Expressing Abstract Relations
Section III. Quantity
2. Comparative Quantity
Quantity by Comparison with a Similar Object

34. Inferiority.

   NOUN:INFERIORITY, minority, subordinacy [obs.], subordinance [obs.]; shortcoming, deficiency; minimum; smallness [See Smallness]; imperfection; subjacency [rare]; lower quality, lower worth; meanness, poorness, baseness, shabbiness.
  [PERSONAL INFERIORITY] commonalty [See Commonalty]; juniority, subordinacy; subaltern, sub [colloq.].
   VERB:BE INFERIOR &c. adj.; fall short of, come short of; not pass, not come up to; want.
  become smaller, render smaller &c. (decrease), 36, (contract) [See Contraction]; hide its diminished head, retire into the shade, yield the palm, play second fiddle, take a back seat [colloq.], kick the beam.
   ADJECTIVE:INFERIOR, deterior [rare], smaller; small [See Smallness]; minor, less, lesser, deficient, minus, lower, subordinate, secondary, junior, humble; second-rate (imperfect) [See Imperfection]; sub-, subaltern.
  LEAST, smallest &c. (see little, small [See Littleness]); lowest.
  DIMINISHED (decreased) [See Nonincrease, Decrease]; reduced (contracted) [See Contraction]; unimportant [See Unimportance].
   ADVERB:LESS; under the mark, below the mark, under par, below par; at the bottom of the scale, at a low ebb, at a disadvantage; short of, under.
   QUOTATIONS:
  1. Weighed in the balance and found wanting.
  2. Not fit to hold a candle to.
  3. Thrown into the shade.