subaltern

American  

[suhb-awl-tern, suhb-uhl-turn] / sʌbˈɔl tərn, ˈsʌb əlˌtɜrn /

adjective

1. lower in rank; subordinate.

   a subaltern employee.

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

3. Logic.

   1. 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.

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

   3. 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.

3. Logic. a subaltern proposition.

subaltern British  

/ 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

3. logic

   1. 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

   2. ( as modifier )

      a subaltern relation

---

adjective

1. of inferior position or rank

Other Word Forms

• subalternity noun

Etymology

Origin of subaltern

1575–85; < Late Latin subalternus, equivalent to sub- sub- + alternus alternate

Explanation

A subaltern is someone with a low ranking in a social, political, or other hierarchy. It can also mean someone who has been marginalized or oppressed. From the Latin roots sub- ("below"), and alternus ("all others"), subaltern is used to describe someone of a low rank (as in the military) or class (as in a caste system). Subalterns occupy entry-level jobs or occupy a lower rung of the "corporate ladder." But the term is also used to describe someone who has no political or economic power, such as a poor person living under a dictatorship.

Example Sentences

His life is a series of subaltern tasks.

From New York Times • Feb. 10, 2020

The islands, which fell under Danish rule in the fourteenth century, became self-governing in 1948, but the relationship between the two countries remains that of a resentful subaltern state and a condescending colonial power.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 11, 2018

In 1945 she joins the Auxiliary Territorial Service to become No 230873 second subaltern Elizabeth Windsor.

From The Guardian • Apr. 21, 2016

The colonial past is alive in his work—Houellebecq was born on subaltern soil, for god’s sake—and I think he often winks at his crappy narrators enjoying the lingering fruits of empire.

From Slate • Oct. 6, 2015

He imagined that a call would come to him, a voice of Command, the voice of a subaltern of God, hashmarks running down his arm for a thousand miles.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy