Search the Dictionary

The quality, state, or condition of being superior; as, superiority of rank; superiority in merit.

Superiority; mastery; -- with of or over. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us. 2 Cor. ii. 11.

Height of rank or excellence; superiority. Swift.

An eager, and sometimes an inordinate, desire for preferment, honor, superiority, power, or the attainment of something. Cromwell, I charge thee, fling a way ambition: By that sin fell the angels. Shak. The pitiful ambition of possessing five or six thousand more acres. Burke.

ng, or controlled by, ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, And Brutus is an honorable man. Shak.

Superiority, or commanding influence; ascendency; as, one man has the ascendant over another. Chievres had acquired over the mind of the young monarch the ascendant not only of a tutor, but of a parent. Robertson.

inion, respect, or esteem; influence of character, office, or station, or mental or moral superiority, and the like; claim to be believed or obeyed; as, an historian of no authority; a magistrate of great authority.

Advantage, superiority, or victory; -- usually with of; as, to get the better of an enemy.

The quality of being better or superior; superiority. [R.] Sir P. Sidney.

Having any sort of superiority or excellence; -- especially such as in conspicuous. [Obs. or Archaic as applied to material things.] Iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth. Bacon. It being a brave day, I walked to Whitehall. Pepys.

A claim or demand. [Obs.] There must be no challenge of superiority. Collier.

r is endeavoring to gain at the same time; common strife for the same objects; strife for superiority; emulous contest; rivalry, as for approbation, for a prize, or as where two or more persons are engaged in the same business and each seeking patronage; -- followed by for before the object sought, and with before the…

Earnest struggle for superiority, victory, defense, etc.; competition; emulation; strife in arms; conflict; combat; encounter. The late battle had, in effect, been a contest between one usurper and another. Hallam. It was fully expected that the contest there would be long and fierce. Macaulay.

ep red color. The small, longhorned variety, called North Devons, is distinguished by the superiority of its working oxen.

Conspicuous station; eminence; superiority; honorable estimation; as, a man of distinction. Your country's own means of distinction and defense. D. Webster.

Separated from others by distinct difference; having, or indicating, superiority; eminent or known; illustrious; -- applied to persons and deeds.

to play the master; to be overbearing; to tyrannize; to bluster; to swell with conscious superiority or haughtiness; -- often with over; as, to domineer over dependents. Go to the feast, revel and domineer. Shak. His wishes tend abroad to roam, And hers to domineer at home. Prior.

courage, nor a man a woman for her beauty. Collier. Whoever envies another confesses his superiority. Rambler.

rpass others in good qualities, laudable actions, or acquirements; to be distinguished by superiority; as, to excel in mathematics, or classics. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel. Gen. xlix. 4. Then peers grew proud in horsemanship t' excel. Pope.

being excellent; state of possessing good qualities in an eminent degree; exalted merit; superiority in virtue. Consider first that great Or bright infers not excellence. Milton.