inferiority complex
7
6.5
- noun
- /ɪnˌfɪəriˈɔːrɪti ˈkɒmplɛks/
:
complejo de inferioridad
- After years of bullying, he developed an inferiority complex that made him doubt his abilities.
- a cultural inferiority complex
I'm just an egomaniac with an inferiority complex and I'm just trying to come up.
- I'm just an egomaniac with an inferiority complex and I'm just trying to come up.
- And man, I'm just, I'm just an egomaniac with a inferiority complex.
- At the core, I think of MAGA is a inherent inferiority complex.
- Germany always had an inferiority complex, so they went to work to develop quickly.
- Whereas I think for many years it's just been mired in this sort of inferiority complex of worshiping New York and worshiping Europe.
- Men who are unable to live up to the expectations of the alpha male narrative suffer from an inferiority complex.
- When I'm, you know, looking at things in terms of my patients, he says my patient is suffering from an inferiority complex.
- He's contrasting that there isn't an inferiority complex as there is in Martinique and the other parts of the Antilles.
- And one of my take homes was that never have an inferiority complex, never like think that you know you cannot do it.
- We're we're, we're pretty, we're pretty confident in it looks like her husband had, you know, sort of a inferiority complex towards her and her writing.
Examples
-
The doctor listened sympathetically and told me that I had an inferiority complex.
Academic text (1998) -
Meanwhile, America was once again suffering from an educational inferiority complex, and little was being done to overcome it.
Academic text (1994) -
So, you know, I got kind of an inferiority complex.
-
I see that you suffer from a massive inferiority complex.
-
I have always suffered from an inferiority complex and perhaps now understand why.
Blog text (12) -
I have a slight inferiority complex.
-
All these years, I've been suffering from an inferiority complex.
-
Benton Harbor has a well deserved inferiority complex.
-
His ingrained inferiority complex seemed to be immune to Laurie's efforts.
Fiction book (1999) -
The misplaced aggression, the shirking of responsibilities... all classic signs of an inferiority complex.
Synonyms
21
4.6
Not feeling sure about what you can do or your decisions
17
5.1
A state of being lower than others in ability, status or value
3
7.5
A feeling that you are not good enough and do not deserve good things
A feeling that you are not worth much
Feeling unable to rely on your own choices or skills
Antonyms
How Inferior
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is largely compositional: 'inferiority' (feeling of being inferior) combined with 'complex' (a cluster of emotions) yields the idea of a cluster of feelings of inadequacy, so the semantic relation is clear. However, the noun sense of 'complex' as a psychological cluster is somewhat specialized and may be unfamiliar to a B1 learner, so the meaning is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Inferiority complex comes from the words inferiority, which means feeling 'lower' or 'less', and complex, which means a group of feelings stuck together. Imagine many small doubts tied into a heavy knot that make someone feel 'not good enough', and that is why the phrase means a lasting feeling of being 'not good enough'.