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Prepositions after adjectives

Senior: to, in, or at?

Senior to is the standard pattern for comparing rank, status, or age. Senior in and senior at are used in different grammatical roles, usually with fields or places.

Quick answer

Which preposition goes with senior?

Use senior to when comparing people by rank, position, or age. Senior in is used for areas of study or experience, and senior at refers to a place such as a company or school.

She is senior to her colleagues.
He is a senior in mechanical engineering.
Maria is senior at the London office.

Choose the pattern by meaning

These forms are not interchangeable. Choose the construction by meaning, not by which preposition appears most often.

1
senior to + person

Comparing rank, age, or status

Use senior to when one person has a higher rank, position, or age than another.

The manager is senior to the interns.
She became senior to her former supervisor.
2
senior in + field

Describing level in a subject or profession

Use senior in before an academic subject, department, or professional field.

He is a senior in computer science.
They hired a senior researcher in oncology.
3
senior at + place

Referring to a place or organisation

Use senior at with a company, office, school, or other institution.

She is senior counsel at the firm.
He worked as a senior analyst at the bank.

See the difference in context

The same subject can take different constructions because each sentence answers a different question.

Construction
Example
Meaning
senior to
A vice-president is senior to a department manager.
Standard comparison of rank, status, or age.
senior in
She is a senior in chemistry.
Refers to a field of study or level within a subject.
senior at
He is senior at the regional office.
Links senior status to a workplace or institution.
senior over
The director has authority over the team.
Use over, not senior over, to express authority.

Common mistakes

Some combinations appear in real text but do not mean what learners often assume.

Using senior than

English uses senior to, not senior than, for comparisons.

✕ She is senior than me. ✓ She is senior to me.

Confusing senior in with comparison

Senior in refers to a field, not a person being compared.

✕ He is senior in his brother. ✓ He is senior to his brother.

Using at for rank comparison

Senior at refers to a place, not a person compared with another.

✕ She is senior at her colleague. ✓ She is senior to her colleague.

Quick practice

Choose the expression that matches the intended meaning.

1. The director is ___ the new managers.
2. She is a senior ___ economics.
3. He works as a senior consultant ___ the hospital.

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Frequently asked questions

Is senior to formal English?

Yes. Senior to is standard in both formal and neutral English.

Can I say senior than?

No. Standard English uses senior to instead of senior than.

What does senior at mean?

It connects a senior position with a workplace, school, or institution.

sacred-to-in-by-of, for "sad for" or "sad about"? "safe for", "safe from" or "safe in"? sanguine about, in, of, on or for? "satisfactory to" or "satisfactory for"? satisfied with, of, by, in or on? "satisfying for" or "satisfying to"? scarce in, for, at, on or of? scared of, to, about, for or by? "scary for" or "scary to"? "scathing about", "scathing in" or "scathing of"? "sceptical about" or "sceptical of"?

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