inferior vs lower

inferior

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

  • 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 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). 

  • Of low rank, standard or quality. 

  • 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. 

lower

adj
  • bottom; more towards the bottom than the middle of an object 

  • Situated on lower ground, nearer a coast, or more southerly. 

  • older 

verb
  • To decrease in value, amount, etc. 

  • To reduce operations to single machine instructions, as part of compilation of a program. 

  • To reduce the degree, intensity, strength, etc., of 

  • To bring down; to humble 

  • (lower oneself) To humble oneself; to do something one considers to be beneath one's dignity. 

  • To let descend by its own weight, as something suspended; to let down 

  • To reduce the height of 

  • To depress as to direction 

  • to pull down 

  • To reduce (something) in value, amount, etc. 

  • To make less elevated 

  • To fall; to sink; to grow less; to diminish; to decrease 

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