English

Noun

poor relation ‎(plural poor relations)

1. Something seen as inferior.
   • 1999, Stephen Wilks, Great Britain. Monopolies and Mergers Commission, In the public interest

     Competition policy was the poor relation of industrial policy. By the 1990s the position was reversed. Industrial policy was passe, competition policy was central to the economic policy debate.

   • 2007, Larry Devlin, Chief of station, Congo: a memoir of 1960-67 (page 33)

     In the State Department, Africa was the poor relation, handled as a subsidiary of the Middle East Bureau.