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Synonyms

poor relation

British  

noun

  1. a person or thing considered inferior to another or others

    plastic is a poor relation of real leather
"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
poor relation Idioms  

  1. 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.

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.

Bayswater was long considered the poor relation of its ultradesirable London neighbors Notting Hill and Marylebone, but new development is driving up home prices in the area.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

Lawyers believe that the Treasury has long seen justice as a poor relation to health and education in terms of public spending.

From BBC • Sep. 16, 2020

His poor relation had always been an anomaly in the ranks of SPI employees, old among the young, emaciated among the luscious, a lonely figure, permanently out of step, everyone’s crazy grandpa.

From The New Yorker • Jul. 22, 2019

It said: “The evidence clearly suggests that the UK saw itself as the poor relation to the US, and was distinctly uncomfortable at the prospect of complaining to its host.”

From The Guardian • Jun. 28, 2018

Her father's brother is only too willing to do anything for her, but she declines to be a poor relation.

From Poor Relations by MacKenzie, Compton

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.