Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Failing to meet a standard; below standard.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or indicating a pattern of linguistic usage that does not conform to that of the prestige group in a speech community or to that of the standard language.
  • adjective Not in accord with notions of good English; nonstandard.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Less than the normal standard.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of inferior quality; not meeting the minimum quality requirements.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective falling short of some prescribed norm

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