substandard
Americanadjective
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below standard or less than adequate.
substandard housing conditions.
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noting or pertaining to a dialect or variety of a language or a feature of usage that is often considered by others to mark its user as uneducated; nonstandard.
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Insurance.
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not measuring up to an insurer's regular standards in undertaking risks.
a substandard risk.
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pertaining to insurance written to cover substandard risks.
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adjective
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below an established or required standard
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another word for nonstandard
Etymology
Origin of substandard
Explanation
Something substandard is below standard — it’s shoddy or inferior. If your final paper for honors English class is scribbled on a torn sheet of notebook paper, that’s substandard work that you’ll probably have to do over. A standard is a quality by which something is judged, and sub can mean “under” like a submarine that goes under water. So things that are substandard fall below most people's standards — they're deficient in some way. A computer that stops working after two weeks is substandard. A car with faulty brakes is substandard. Substandard things are the opposite of well-made things. Turning in substandard work is a good way to get a bad grade.
Vocabulary lists containing substandard
Oh, No! Synonyms for "Bad"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
UKEclipse, an initiative set up by UK astronomers, also warns that major eclipses often attract "counterfeit and substandard eclipse glasses" and advises going through specialist retailers and organisations instead.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
"And a lot of this stuff that we've looked at is just very, very substandard."
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Normally, carmakers can easily trace where potentially problematic parts originated and how they were imported, but with the substandard air-bag parts, there are no records of who sent them to the U.S. and distributed them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
England have lost six of their past eight Tests, and the two wins were in extraordinary matches on substandard pitches in Melbourne and at Lord's.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
You must be willing to work long and hard at substandard wages.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
