subaltern Hear it!

subaltern Definition

sub·al·tern (səb ôl′tərn; chiefly Brit sub′əl tərn)

adjective

  1. subordinate; of lower rank
  2. Brit. holding an army commission below that of captain
  3. in traditional logic, particular, with reference to a universal proposition of which it is part

Etymology: Fr subalterne < LL subalternus < L sub-, sub- + alternus, alternate

noun

  1. a subordinate
  2. Brit. a subaltern officer
  3. a subaltern proposition in logic

subaltern Synonyms

subaltern

modif.

of lower rank, servile, inferior, secondary; see subject 1, subordinate.

subaltern Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • have: Back to top We had a subalterns ' court-martial the other day.

Preposition: at

  • front: Friend and foe and the dead A subaltern at the front writes.

Adjective modifier

  • senior: I was the senior subaltern at the time and so introduced him to life in the Battalion.
  • young: The screams of a wounded British officer abandoned at the bottom of a dark ravine are heard by a young Scottish subaltern.
  • other: And this was perhaps more than some of the other subalterns received - in addition to their army pay, that is to say.
  • former: As a former subaltern of the Life Guards, he is still fettered by the curious, but stern social code of his regiment.

Modifies a noun

  • officer: Subaltern Junior officer of ensign or lieutenant rank in the British Army.
  • class: Victorian society officially granted the possibility of social betterment to the subaltern classes: the veracity of this potentiality is interrogated in the text.
  • group: What are the implications of commemorative history to both dominant and subaltern groups within American society?
  • politics: In this way, the book contributes to some of the most crucial debates on the nature of subaltern politics and consciousness.
  • form: But then the subaltern O form: ' Some S is not P ' must be true.