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Atop vs Superior - What's the difference?

atop | superior |

As a preposition atop

is on the top of.

As an adverb atop

is on, to, or at the top.

As an adjective superior is

higher in quality.

As a noun superior is

a person of higher rank or quality.

atop

English

Preposition

(English prepositions)
  • On the top of.
  • He sat atop the mountain, waiting for the end of the world.
  • * 1966 , The Minnesota Review , vol. 6, page 242
  • A virtue is made out of a necessity, with the child feeling far more atop and master of his oddness, his behavior now deliberate or even clever.
  • * 2006 , Dewey Lambdin, The Gun Ketch , page 48
  • *:"And other things," she echoed, nodding slowly and resting her body a little more atop him again.
  • * 2014, (Paul Salopek), Blessed. Cursed. Claimed. , National Geographic (December 2014)[http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text]
  • “Monotheism was born here,” Goren tells me atop a cliff overlooking the sheet of iron-colored water.
  • On the top, with "of".
  • Usage notes

    "Atop of" was formerly much more commonly used than now.

    Derived terms

    * thereatop

    Synonyms

    * on top * ontop (mainly US)

    Adverb

    (-)
  • On, to, or at the top.
  • * 1909 , William Dean Howells, Seven English Cities , Kessinger Publishing 2004, p. 46:
  • He has a handsome face, still bearded in the midst of a mostly clean-shaving nation, and with the white hairs prevalent on the cheeks and temples; his head is bald atop , though hardly from the uneasiness of wearing a crown.
  • * 1978 , James C. Humes, Speaker's Treasury of Anecdotes About the Famous , Harper & Row 1978, p. 102:
  • The envoy found the French king playing the part of horse while his young son rode atop .

    superior

    English

    Alternative forms

    * superiour (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Higher in quality.
  • Higher in rank.
  • * , chapter=12
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs, […], and all these articles […] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.}}
  • More comprehensive, as a term in classification.
  • A genus is superior to a species.
  • Located above.
  • the superior''' jaw; the '''superior part of an image
  • # (botany) Above the ovary; said of parts of the flower which, although normally below the ovary, adhere to it, and so appear to originate from its upper part; also of an ovary when the other floral organs are plainly below it in position, and free from it.
  • # (botany) Belonging to the part of an axillary flower which is toward the main stem; posterior.
  • # (botany) Pointing toward the apex of the fruit; ascending; said of the radicle.
  • # (typography) Printed in superscript.
  • a superior figure or letter
  • Greater or better than average; extraordinary.
  • Beyond the power or influence of; too great or firm to be subdued or affected by; with to .
  • * Spectator
  • There is not in earth a spectacle more worthy than a great man superior to his sufferings.

    Usage notes

    * Superior and inferior are generally followed by to; than is sometimes used mistakenly.

    Antonyms

    * (l)

    Coordinate terms

    *

    Derived terms

    * superiorness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person of higher rank or quality.
  • The senior person in a monastic community.