inferiority complex
noun
1
: an acute sense of personal inferiority often resulting either in timidity or through overcompensation in exaggerated aggressiveness
2
: a collective sense of cultural, regional, or national inferiority
Examples of inferiority complex in a Sentence
His shyness is the result of an inferiority complex.
Recent Examples on the Web
The final-day defeat against a United side who have set all sorts of unwanted records has contributed to the growing sense that Villa still carry an inferiority complex and fall short in the season’s most meaningful matches.
—
Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 28 May 2025
Washington’s inferiority complex about Baltimore is thereby deserved, enduring and kind of heartwarming but should not manifest itself in sports fan insults.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 21 May 2025
People talk quite readily of inferiority complexes, but in my mum’s case there was nothing complex about it.
—Geoff Dyer, Harpers Magazine, 28 Mar. 2025
So, for Orbán, as well, the visit of Netanyahu offers the chance to get back to basics and exploit a certain inferiority complex among Hungarians, Márton Gergely, editor of independent news weekly HVG, told CNN.
—Andrew Carey, CNN Money, 2 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inferiority complex
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Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 28 May 2025
Washington’s inferiority complex about Baltimore is thereby deserved, enduring and kind of heartwarming but should not manifest itself in sports fan insults.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 21 May 2025
People talk quite readily of inferiority complexes, but in my mum’s case there was nothing complex about it.
—Geoff Dyer, Harpers Magazine, 28 Mar. 2025
So, for Orbán, as well, the visit of Netanyahu offers the chance to get back to basics and exploit a certain inferiority complex among Hungarians, Márton Gergely, editor of independent news weekly HVG, told CNN.
—Andrew Carey, CNN Money, 2 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inferiority complex
Cite this Entry
“Inferiority complex.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inferiority%20complex. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
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