Other forms: superiors
Superior means better than the other thing — clearly better, not slightly. Superior sound quality, a superior cut of meat, a team superior in every part of the game.
It also means higher in rank, and as a noun your superior is the person above you at work: take it to your superior, obey a superior officer. The third sense is the one that stings — a superior person lets you know they think they are better than you, with a superior smile or a superior little laugh. The grammar catches everyone: superior takes TO, never THAN. Superior to the old model, not superior than it. In anatomy and geography it means plainly upper: the superior vena cava sits above the inferior one, and Lake Superior is the top lake on the map.
1adjectivefinerBetter in quality than something else.
“The cheaper machine gave superior results in every test.”
synonyms: better, finer
2adjectivesuperiorHigher in rank or position.
“A superior officer signed the order.”
3nounworkA person of higher rank than you, especially at work.
“She took the complaint straight to her superior.”
4adjectivebehavingBehaving as if you are better than other people.
“He answered in that superior tone that ends a conversation.”
5adjectiveplacedPlaced above something else in the body or on a map.
“The superior surface of the bone was worn smooth.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
Superior came through Old French superiour from Latin superior, which meant nothing grander than 'higher, upper'. Every English sense is still that one picture: someone standing above you — on the organisation chart, on the quality scale, or purely in their own mind.
Latin
superior — higher, upper
Old French
superiour
English, today
superior
From Middle English -, borrowed from Old French superiour, from Latin superior (“higher, upper”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA