poor relation

poor relation (plural poor relations)

1. Something neglected or seen as inferior.
   • 1999, Stephen Wilks, Great Britain. Monopolies, 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.

• “poor relation”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “poor relation” (US) / “poor relation” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “poor relation” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “poor relation”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.