"poor relation" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "poor relations",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "poor relation (plural poor relations)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1999, Stephen Wilks, Great Britain. Monopolies, Mergers Commission, In the public interest",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Larry Devlin, Chief of station, Congo: a memoir of 1960-67, page 33",
          "text": "In the State Department, Africa was the poor relation, handled as a subsidiary of the Middle East Bureau.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 April 3, Howard Johnston, “TfL is overflowing with ideas... but is short of the capital”, in RAIL, number 1006, page 31",
          "text": "The Bakerloo Line, the poor relation of the London Underground, has become a huge talking point in terms of both its immediate and medium-term future.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something neglected or seen as inferior."
      ],
      "id": "en-poor_relation-en-noun-1k4OlVUJ",
      "links": [
        [
          "neglected",
          "neglected"
        ],
        [
          "inferior",
          "inferior"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "stiefkind"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "stiefkindje"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "köyhä sukulainen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "parent pauvre"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "ftochós syngenís",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "φτωχός συγγενής"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "parente povero"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "ubogi krewny"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "bédnyj ródstvennik",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "бе́дный ро́дственник"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "poor relation"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "poor relations",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "poor relation (plural poor relations)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1999, Stephen Wilks, Great Britain. Monopolies, Mergers Commission, In the public interest",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Larry Devlin, Chief of station, Congo: a memoir of 1960-67, page 33",
          "text": "In the State Department, Africa was the poor relation, handled as a subsidiary of the Middle East Bureau.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 April 3, Howard Johnston, “TfL is overflowing with ideas... but is short of the capital”, in RAIL, number 1006, page 31",
          "text": "The Bakerloo Line, the poor relation of the London Underground, has become a huge talking point in terms of both its immediate and medium-term future.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something neglected or seen as inferior."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "neglected",
          "neglected"
        ],
        [
          "inferior",
          "inferior"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "stiefkind"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "stiefkindje"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "köyhä sukulainen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "parent pauvre"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "ftochós syngenís",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "φτωχός συγγενής"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "parente povero"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "ubogi krewny"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "bédnyj ródstvennik",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "бе́дный ро́дственник"
    }
  ],
  "word": "poor relation"
}