subaltern

[ suhb-awl-tern or, especially for 3, 6, suhb-uhl-turn ]
See synonyms for subaltern on Thesaurus.com
adjective

  1. lower in rank; subordinate: a subaltern employee.

  2. British Military. noting a commissioned officer below the rank of captain.

  1. Logic.

    • denoting the relation of one proposition to another when the first proposition is implied by the second but the second is not implied by the first.

    • (in Aristotelian logic) denoting the relation of a particular proposition to a universal proposition having the same subject, predicate, and quality.

    • of or relating to a proposition having either of these relations to another.

noun

  1. a person who has a subordinate position.

  2. British Military. a commissioned officer below the rank of captain.

  1. Logic. a subaltern proposition.

Origin of subaltern

1
1575–85; <Late Latin subalternus, equivalent to sub-sub- + alternusalternate

Other words from subaltern

  • sub·al·ter·ni·ty, noun

Words Nearby subaltern

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use subaltern in a sentence

  • What better hap could a cavalry subaltern desire than such a fight under such conditions?

    The Red Year | Louis Tracy

  • The subaltern flew up the narrow stairway that led to the room of the prisoner, and demanded the meaning of the outcry.

    The Spy | J. Fenimore Cooper

  • Where before he had been a subaltern not always even a wage-earner—now all in a moment he had been transformed into a high chief.

  • And hastily taking a paper from the hands of a subaltern, he returned to his place within the screen.

  • At his return to Dresden he carried a Musket, and afterwards pass'd through all the subaltern Degrees.

British Dictionary definitions for subaltern

subaltern

/ (ˈsʌbəltən) /

noun

  1. a commissioned officer below the rank of captain in certain armies, esp the British

  2. a person of inferior rank or position

  1. logic

    • the relation of one proposition to another when the first is implied by the second, esp the relation of a particular to a universal proposition

    • (as modifier): a subaltern relation

adjective

  1. of inferior position or rank

Origin of subaltern

1
C16: from Late Latin subalternus, from Latin sub- + alternus alternate, from alter the other

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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