superior
- noun
- /səˈpɪrɪər/
- Specialized
- In mathematics, the term superior refers to a character or symbol set above another in the notation used for exponents.
Examples
-
Also, Eitan Hadar, David Sharon's immediate superior as Director of the Middle East Division, to whom he had taken the Baghdad letter that morning.
Fiction book (1994) -
Instead of appearing as criminals, failures, or losers, they are transmuted into moral superiors.
Academic text (1990) -
What if the Mother Superior turns you down?
Fiction book (1991) -
Why was the Mother Superior being so difficult?
Fiction book (1991) -
I watched a rather brilliant discussion between a superior and a subordinate this weekend.
Blog text (2) -
If you needed two hundred lire, about fifteen cents, you had to go to your superior.
Academic text (1994) -
The typographic style included a small superior that denoted the power of ten in the equation.
-
To indicate squared values, the writer used a superior next to the numeral in the printed document.
Synonyms
A small mark written above and to the right of another to show a power or footnote
Compounds
- Specialized
A large blood vessel from the aorta that sends blood to the small intestine and part of the colon
The largest freshwater lake in the world on the border of the United States and Canada
- Specialized
A large vein that carries blood with little oxygen from the upper body to the right side of the heart
- Specialized
An upper fold of tissue in the throat that does not make sound
- Specialized
An artery that gives blood to the upper teeth and nearby gums
- Specialized
A vein that drains blood from the upper front of the belly and runs beside its artery
- Specialized
A vein in the top of a lung that carries oxygen-rich blood to the left upper part of the heart
- Specialized
A long vein in the deep part of the brain that drains blood
- Specialized
A vein that carries blood from the inner corner of the eye into a deep vein behind the eye
- Specialized
A planet that orbits the Sun outside Earth's orbit, like Mars or Jupiter
- Specialized
A neck vein that carries blood from the top of the thyroid gland into a large neck vein
- Specialized
A blood vessel that carries blood to the upper part of the cerebellum and nearby midbrain
- Specialized
A part of the brain that helps process what you see and control quick eye movements
- Specialized
When a planet is on the far side of the Sun from Earth so we cannot see it
- Specialized
A brain vein that drains blood from the top half of the brain
- Specialized
A vein that carries blood from the upper part of each lung to the left upper chamber of the heart
Surface Forms
Morphology
superior = super (transparent) = super + ior
The noun sense for a character placed above is a direct nominalization of the 'above' meaning and is predictable from the base.
Etymology
Superior comes from the Latin super 'above', so as a noun it names a symbol printed above a line, for example a small number used for exponents or footnotes. This explains why a superior mark appears 'above' the main text.