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.
Fabio Gutierrez, a 34-year-old minibus driver, spent over $1,000 to repair the damage caused to his engine by the substandard fuel.
From Barron's • May 20, 2026
“I’m just trying to get me and my kids out of this town before it explodes,” growls Mary when Valerie presses her to punch up one of Al’s substandard scripts.
From Salon • Mar. 26, 2026
Another said that some of her colleagues felt the need to "hard sell" private work and make NHS treatment look substandard.
From BBC • Mar. 24, 2026
Workers lived in substandard housing and were paid terrible wages, according to a Times obituary.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2026
The cow retreated a few steps and regarded him with watery, mooning eyes that indicated a massively substandard intelligence.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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.
