poor relation


noun
  1. a person or thing considered inferior to another or others: plastic is a poor relation of real leather

Words Nearby poor relation

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use poor relation in a sentence

  • A spinster who was a poor relation was the only person of respectable breeding who ever came near them.

    A Lady of Quality | Frances Hodgson Burnett
  • At most, she only looks upon him as a kind of poor relation that ought to put up with anything.

    A Charming Fellow, Volume II (of 3) | Frances Eleanor Trollope
  • She had been the poor relation, the daughter of a dreaming failure.

    Hunters Out of Space | Joseph Everidge Kelleam
  • Robert Moncton had been reconciled to his son, and I was once more regarded as only a poor relation.

  • I am rich, trust in me, and the world shall never sneer at you as a poor relation.

Other Idioms and Phrases with poor relation

poor relation

An inferior member of a group, as in Many regard Turkey as the poor relation in the European alliance. This expression, first recorded in 1720 for a family member in humble circumstances, began to be used figuratively in the mid-1900s.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.