Superior or Senior

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Pawandeep Kaur

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Hi,

Please help me. I would like to know that which sentence is correct, to be used in business email.

'I will speak with my superiors and will let you know.'
OR
I will speak with my seniors and will let you know.
 

emsr2d2

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Hi,

Please help me. I would like to know that which sentence is correct, to be used in business email.

'I will speak with my superiors and will let you know.'
OR
I will speak with my seniors and will let you know.

In BrE, at least, your "superiors" are people who are a higher grade/level than you at work (your bosses, effectively).

Your "seniors" (although not used very frequently) are people who are simply older than you.

"Senior citizens" = elderly people (in the UK, anyone over pensionable age, which is 60 or 65, can be referred to as a senior citizen.

My boyfriend is 20 years my senior = My boyfriend is 20 years older than me.

"Senior" is used in job titles to describe someone as a higher level (Senior Sales Director, for example), but we wouldn't just call them "a senior".
 
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Pawandeep Kaur

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But, superiors also means the one with the superlative quality and its antonym is inferior(with inferior quality). Actually most of the time, it is associated with the quality of the person or thing.

I work in a company where we need to answer to clients through emails. I felt that senior is more respectful word than superior. I have seen that in all my previous company we refer to our senior colleagues as senior not superior.

Please, let me know that if senior is a correct word for business writing.
 

emsr2d2

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But, superiors also means the one with the superlative quality and its antonym is inferior(with inferior quality). Actually most of the time, it is associated with the quality of the person or thing.

I work in a company where we need to answer to clients through emails. I felt that senior is more respectful word than superior. I have seen that in all my previous company we refer to our senior colleagues as senior not superior.

Please, let me know that if senior is a correct word for business writing.

Yes, superior does have that additional meaning, but when you're talking about your work colleagues it means someone at a higher level/grade and doesn't have the some connotation.

As I said before, using "Senior" in an actual job title is a regular occurrence, but I still would not recommend saying "I will speak with my seniors about this".

I will speak with my superiors.
I will speak to my managers.
I will talk to my boss.
 
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