superiority

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Greater excellence

Nouns

1. superiority; excellence (see goodness); majority, plurality; advantage; preponderance, preponderation; vantage point or ground, prevalence, partiality; lead, gain; nobility. Informal, edge, inside track. See inequality, overrunning.

2. supremacy, primacy, preeminence, precedence; whip or upper hand; victory, triumph (see success); championship; maximum; climax; catbird seat; culmination, summit, transcendence, transcendency, prepotence, ne plus ultra; lion's share, excess, surplus; perfection, sovereignty (see authority).

3. cream of the crop, number one; ace; elite; overachiever. Informal, first string, chairman. Slang, class act, mammy jammer.

Verbs — excel, exceed, transcend; outdo, better, outbalance, outweigh, outrival; pass, surpass, get ahead of; overtop, override, overpass, overbalance, overweigh, overmatch; top, cap, beat, cut out, steal a march on, upstage; beat hollow; outstrip, eclipse, throw into the shade, run circles around, put one's nose out of joint; have the upper hand, have the whip hand, have the advantage, hold all the trumps; have at one's feet (see submission); turn the scale, play first fiddle (see importance); preponderate, predominate, prevail; precede, take precedence, come first; come to a head, culminate; beat all others, bear the palm, break the record. Informal, get the drop on, have it [all] over (someone), have an edge on, have the last laugh. Slang, pull rank; have something going for one, one-up, kick ass or butt.

Adjectives

1. superior, greater, major, higher, premier; exceeding; great, distinguished, ultra; vaulting; more than a match for; supreme, greatest, utmost, paramount, preeminent, foremost, crowning; first-rate, first-class, world-class, top-notch, important, excellent; increased, enlarged; one up. Informal, of the first water; ahead of the game. Slang, tops, top-drawer, far-out, killer[diller], out of sight, pukka, something else.

2. superlative, inimitable, incomparable, sovereign, without parallel, ne plus ultra; unrivaled, peerless, matchless; champion, second to none, nonpareil; unparalleled, unequaled, unapproached, unsurpassed; beyond compare or comparison; culminating, topmost; transcendent; superhuman.

Adverbs — beyond, more, over; over or above the mark; above par, at the top of the scale, on top, at its height; eminently, preeminently, surpassing, prominently, superlatively, supremely, above all, par excellence, [summa] cum laude, exceedingly, principally, especially, particularly, peculiarly, even, yea, still more.

Quotations — If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor... the world will make a beaten path to his door (Emerson), You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din! (Rudyard Kipling), Nature made him and then broke the mould (Ariosto), I don't want to belong to any club that would accept me as a member (Groucho Marx).

Antonyms, see inferiority.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. supremacy, preponderance, advantage; see perfection 3 .

III

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The quality of being exceptionally good of its kind: excellence, fineness, superbness. See GOOD. 2. A dominating position, as in a conflict: advantage, better1, bulge, draw, drop, edge, upper hand, vantage. Informal: inside track, jump. See OVER. 3. The quality of being arrogant: arrogance, haughtiness, hauteur, insolence, loftiness, lordliness, overbeanngness, presumption, pride, pridefulness, proudness, superciliousness. See ATTITUDE.