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I am reviewing an article, and the author uses the phrase

... this algorithm achieves the most superior fairness ...

Initially I thought the phrase is not correct, just like saying that something is more better than something, but I did a google search and got more than a million hits (using quotes).

So my question is: is the use of "most superior" ever correct? If not, why not?

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  • possible duplicate of Are the rules regarding absolute modifiers too absolute?
    – FumbleFingers
    Dec 12, 2012 at 18:39
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    @FumbleFingers No, this is a double-superlative. It isn't like saying most unique.
    – tchrist ♦
    Dec 12, 2012 at 18:52
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    Incidentally, even if the construction were permissible, Iit would have to be *greatest superior fairness
    – Tim Lymington
    Dec 12, 2012 at 20:12
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    Is it possible that "superior fairness" is a technical term? For example there could be two metrics "superior fairness" and "inferior fairness".
    – donothingsuccessfully
    Dec 12, 2012 at 20:36
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    @donothingsuccessfully From my experience on the subject, "superior fairness" is not a term by itself. You measure the fairness of the algorithm, using a formula called a fairness index (that usually gives a value from 0 to 1). The higher this value is, the more fair the outcome (the resource is shared more equally). Thus, an algorithm can perform better than another one in terms of fairness, or equivalently achieve better fairness (or superior fairness) than another algorithm.
    – voth
    Dec 14, 2012 at 16:22

7 Answers 7

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Yes, most superior is incorrect: English forbids double-superlatives.

That's because superior itself is already an absolute superlative form (well, or absolute comparative; in any event, it is already inflected by degree).

It's like using more or most on better or best. These are therefore all wrong, and sound ungrammatical to the native ear:

  • *more better
  • *most better
  • *more best
  • *most best
  • *more superior
  • *most superior
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    @Voth Illiteracy? Non-native speakers?
    – tchrist ♦
    Dec 12, 2012 at 18:59
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    The phrase gets over 100,000 hits on Google books; none look like they have been penned by non-natives or illiterates. The two-word phrase seems rather common in anatomy, as in: "In the most superior aspect of the falx, the dural sheath separates to form the superior sagittal sinus," and, "As one proceeds into the hilum, the upper lobe branches of the pulmonary artery are the most superior hilar structures," although there are some other uses, too, like "Further, the most superior science — the one that is superior to any subordinate science..." (which comes from Aristotle).
    – J.R.
    Dec 12, 2012 at 21:22
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    @J.R.: yes, there certainly are contexts where the phrase is legitimate; your first two mean (literally) 'uppermost'. There are borderline cases, like a strained translation of a difficult Greek word. And there are places where the author can't be bothered to avoid a double superlative.
    – Tim Lymington
    Dec 12, 2012 at 21:41
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    @J.R. The rather rarefied use of superior to mean upper is not what we are talking about, but if it were, than uppermost is just fine. The problem is that saying that someone or something is “more superior” as in “more better” sounds completely ridiculous.
    – tchrist ♦
    Dec 13, 2012 at 1:59
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    @tchrist: I only made my comment because of Voth's question. The O.P. was looking for an explanation; I offered an alternative to illiteracy. I took care to point out that most of the uses were found in anatomy to (mostly) back you up, inferring that "most superior" is (mostly) incorrect. I think there might be a few exceptions, but it's worth noting that I had to look hard to find the Aristotle example; the page wasn't exactly littered with such uses. Moreover, it's worth mentioning that Aristotle didn't write in English, so that particular use of "most superior" might be a translation issue.
    – J.R.
    Dec 13, 2012 at 8:57
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Superior can be used in an absolute sense, meaning either 'pre-eminent' or 'snobbish'. If used so, it can obviously have a comparative and superlative: there was a verse in Punch about one of the Viceroys of India, starting 'My name is George Nathaniel Curzon/ I am a most superior person'. I think your author is trying for this and failing. (For what it's worth, I also took it as 'more better' when I read it.)

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  • +1. Quite right. 'My cheeks are pink, my hair is sleek, / I dine at Blenheim twice a week.'
    – Barrie England
    Dec 12, 2012 at 19:24
  • Grammatically, in favor of this answer I analyze it as I don't think 'superior' is a superlative or copmarative (as it might be in Latin). 'That car is superior than this car.' and ' That car is the superior of them all' are not grammatical. It is absolute in meaning, however. But, to add a twist, 'most' is not trying to make a superlative out of an adjective. 'Most' is an adverbial intensifier, e.g synonymous with 'to a much greater degree', that is, how superior it is is well beyond the 2nd best.
    – Mitch
    Dec 12, 2012 at 22:32
  • @Mitch: well yes, that's why it's 'a most superior person' not 'the most' (the point the original author seems to have missed).
    – Tim Lymington
    Dec 12, 2012 at 22:41
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I think it all depends on the context in which it is used. If used in a euphemistic or humorous manner, I would say it's fine. But otherwise, "superior" alone should suffice.

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  • No it is for a scientific conference publication. So in this case it is not correct.
    – voth
    Dec 12, 2012 at 18:51
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Sounds like whoever wrote the paper may have a poor command of written english, notwithstanding their scientific contributions. Even "superior fairness" alone is awkward. "Most superior fairness" sounds self-important and is most utmostly incorrect.

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    I think you might be jumping to conclusions, and I wouldn't judge someone's command of English based on one excerpt from one sentence. Algorithms are often evaluated based on fairness. If 10 fair algorithms are evaluated, 5 might be judged to have "superior fairness." After further analysis, there might be one deemed to be "most fair," but I don't have huge heartburn with "most superior fairness" in a context such as queuing theory.
    – J.R.
    Dec 12, 2012 at 21:49
  • @J.R. Superior is a rather pretentious word if somebody thinks that most superior fairness has any sense at all, let alone one that improves about best fairness.
    – tchrist ♦
    Dec 13, 2012 at 2:01
  • @tchrist: in the context of algorithm analysis, superior doesn't strike me as a particularly pretentious word; to my ears, it simply means "performed better." But I'll accept that not all readers would necessarily share that outlook; this is a case where there might be two valid opinions. In fact, thanks to your comment, I might be less likely to use that word in that context in the future, opting for something like "performed better" instead.
    – J.R.
    Dec 13, 2012 at 9:01
  • I'm not judging, merely making a judgement-call as to the source. English is a second language for me. OP's sentence struck me as being written by someone not well practised in english. Perhaps @OP could enlighten us as to the source of the paper.
    – Chris
    Dec 13, 2012 at 22:05
  • Unfortunately I cannot share the manuscript, since it is still under review, and considered confidential. However, a larger context that uses the phrase is: Impact of QM schemes: XXXXXX achieves the most superior fairness, regardless of the competing TCP types and their RTTs, without sacricing the link utilization. By contrast, YYYYYY and ZZZZZZ have poor fairness.
    – voth
    Dec 14, 2012 at 16:14
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Superior is an adjective not a superlative - superlatives are , for example biggest, stupidest , smallest, ugliest, smelliest - so be careful when you describe something as "superlative" -

MORE SUPERIOR is therefore just like saying "more beautiful" - a comparative

the confusion arises because superior sounds like a comparative because it ends in the sound "or" sounds like "er" eg bigger smaller

and saying the "MOST SUPERIOR" is just a superlative - like saying you have the "most beautiful" face - this should clear that up for you all

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  • If saying that X is superior to Y is like saying that X is better than Y, why would you need to say that X is more superior (or more better) than Y? Isn't superior by itself enough to establish the superiority of X to Y?
    – Sven Yargs
    Jun 12, 2015 at 8:54
  • do you want to choose the word "superior", or the word" better" ? "More better " is a double comparative - comparatives compare things - mine is "bigger" than yours etc comparatives are formed by adding , usually the suffix sound er to an adjective(spelling varies) for example fat , fatter - there is no need to say " my belly is 'more larger' than yours" the comparative larger is all that is required - no need for the word "more" - also , for example - saying hip hop is superior to rock music or vice versa is a matter of opinion - the word superior is an adjective
    – Ciaran Mooney
    Jun 20, 2015 at 23:18
  • the words 'better' and 'superior' have slightly different connotations but similar usage - like bigger and larger - you can choose whichever you like whenever you like - do you think 'larger' is superior to 'bigger' , or just better? Is 'bigger' better? Or larger more superior ?
    – Ciaran Mooney
    Jun 20, 2015 at 23:24
  • the word 'more' can be a quantative adjective and a qualifying adjective - e.g my pigeons have all been sick but are now well - i gave you a few but i have more better pigeons than you ( more here is quantative)
    – Ciaran Mooney
    Jun 20, 2015 at 23:49
  • the word 'more' can be a quantative adjective and a qualifying adjective - e.g my pigeons have all been sick but are now well - i gave you a few but i have more better pigeons than you ( more here is quantative) – could you say more superior here instead of more better ? can you tell the difference ? my pigeons have all been sick but i have more superior pigeons than you ? the comparative 'better' can also be an adjective meaning , recovered from an illness - so lots of meanings
    – Ciaran Mooney
    Jun 21, 2015 at 0:03
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Most superior footballers eat good food

In that sentence "most" is a quantitative adjective describing footballers and is not attached to superior as it is in the example in question on this post in which the word "most" is an auxiliary adjectival superlative

just an example of other ways to say "most superior"

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It is wrong if you use it in an article, or some formal text form. But you can use it poetically. Pleonasm is a figure of speech, and can be used in these poetic context. I've been thinking like: "Gods are superior to humans, and all creatures, but as I wanted to talk about a superior God among the gods, I find it the pleonasm the best way to express an absolutism that extrapolates even the language and it's rules by saying "The Most Superior Being", to try to explain this God of the gods." Kind regards!

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