Superordinate

adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    That which is superordinate.
  2. 2
    a word that is more generic than a given word wordnet
  3. 3
    That which is superordinate.; Synonym of hypernym.

    "Seventy-two subjects attempted to recall the object nouns of seven once-exposed sentences given as retrieval cues the subject noun of each sentence and four other words related to the subject noun. The related cues were a remote superordinate, a close superordinate, a remote cohyponym, and a close cohyponym of the subject noun. Four predictions about differences in effectiveness of these cues, derived from the Katz and Fodor and the Quillian theories of semantics, were confirmed. There was one case about which the theories made different predictions. Consistent with Quillian's theory, but contrary to the Katz and Fodor theory, significantly more words were recalled when the cue was a close rather than a remote superordinate."

  4. 4
    one of greater rank or station or quality wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To cause to be superordinate. transitive
  2. 2
    place in a superior order or rank wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Greater in degree, rank or position.
  2. 2
    The relation of a universal proposition to a specific proposition of the same form with the universal quantified variable replaced by a specific instance.
  3. 3
    hypernymic
Adjective
  1. 1
    of higher rank or status or value wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
hypernymhypernymhigher-uphypernymichypernymicsuperior

Example

More examples

"Seventy-two subjects attempted to recall the object nouns of seven once-exposed sentences given as retrieval cues the subject noun of each sentence and four other words related to the subject noun. The related cues were a remote superordinate, a close superordinate, a remote cohyponym, and a close cohyponym of the subject noun. Four predictions about differences in effectiveness of these cues, derived from the Katz and Fodor and the Quillian theories of semantics, were confirmed. There was one case about which the theories made different predictions. Consistent with Quillian's theory, but contrary to the Katz and Fodor theory, significantly more words were recalled when the cue was a close rather than a remote superordinate."

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.