fine vs inferior

fine

adj
  • Of a particular grade of quality, usually between very good and very fine, and below mint. 

  • Of superior quality. 

  • Consisting of especially minute particulates; made up of particularly small pieces. 

  • Being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory. 

  • Made of slender or thin filaments. 

  • Impressively bad, inappropriate, or unsatisfactory. 

  • An answer often used to cover an unnecessary explanation, rather to avoid conflict or an argument. Saying "I'm fine" can be used to avoid inquiry when the speaker is not really okay. 

  • Particularly slender; especially thin, narrow, or of small girth. 

  • Having a (specified) proportion of pure metal in its composition. 

  • Good-looking, attractive. 

  • Subtle, delicately balanced or discriminated. 

  • Sunny and not raining. 

  • Behind the batsman and at a small angle to the line between the wickets. 

  • Delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; dexterous. 

verb
  • To issue a fine as punishment to (someone). 

  • To make finer, purer, or cleaner; to purify or clarify. 

  • To become finer, purer, or cleaner. 

  • To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc. 

  • To clarify (wine and beer) by filtration. 

  • To change by fine gradations. 

  • To pay a fine. 

adv
  • Well, nicely, in a positive, agreeable way. 

  • In a manner so that the driven ball strikes the object ball so far to one side as to be barely deflected, the object ball being driven to one side. 

  • Expression of (typically) reluctant or agreement. 

noun
  • Something that is fine; fine particles. 

  • A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal. 

  • A drink that must be taken during a meal or as part of a drinking game, following an announcement that anyone who has done some (usually outrageous) deed is to be fined; similar to I have never; commonly associated with swaps; very similar to a sconce at Oxford University, though a fine is the penalty itself rather than the act of issuing it. 

  • The end of a musical composition. 

  • A fee levied as punishment for breaking the law. 

  • A sum of money or price paid for obtaining a benefit, favor, or privilege, as for admission to a copyhold, or for obtaining or renewing a lease. 

  • Fine champagne; French brandy. 

  • The location in a musical score that indicates the end of the piece, particularly when the piece ends somewhere in the middle of the score due to a section of the music being repeated. 

inferior

adj
  • Of low rank, standard or quality. 

  • Nearer to the Sun than the Earth is. 

  • (of a court or tribunal) Susceptible to having its decisions overturned by a higher court. 

  • Lower in rank, status, or quality. 

  • On the side of a flower which is next to the bract. 

  • Situated further below (another part of the body), a direction that in humans corresponds to caudad. 

  • Situated in a relatively low posterior or ventral position in a quadrupedal body. 

  • Situated below some other organ (said of a calyx when free from the ovary, and therefore below it, or of an ovary with an adherent and therefore inferior calyx). 

  • Denoting goods or services which are in greater demand during a recession than in a boom, for example second-hand clothes. 

  • Below the horizon. 

  • Printed in subscript. 

noun
  • An inferior letter, figure, or symbol. 

  • A person of lower rank, stature, or ability to another. 

How often have the words fine and inferior occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )