the.com/inferiority complex

means A persistent, often unconscious feeling of not being good enough, which can quietly drive behavior — including the overcompensating bluster that tries to hide it.

from A term coined in early 20th-century psychology, closely tied to Alfred Adler, who broke from Freud to argue that feelings of inferiority — rooted in childhood helplessness — were a central engine of personality, pushing people toward compensation or overcompensation. The phrase escaped the clinic almost immediately and became everyday shorthand, loosely and often sloppily applied to anyone who seems to be trying too hard.