subaltern.
Of a lower rank or position; inferior or secondary; especially (military) ranking as a junior officer, below the rank of captain.
Meaning & usage
Of a lower rank or position; inferior or secondary; especially (military) ranking as a junior officer, below the rank of captain.
a subaltern officer
Asserting only a part of what is asserted in a related proposition.
Where this word comes from
From Middle French subalterne, from Late Latin subalternus, from Latin sub- + alternus, from alter.
A subordinate.
A commissioned officer having a rank below that of captain; a lieutenant or second lieutenant.
A subaltern proposition; a proposition implied by a universal proposition.
A member of a group that is socially, politically and geographically outside of the hegemonic power structure of the colony and of the colonial homeland.
Where this word comes from
From Middle French subalterne, from Late Latin subalternus, from Latin sub- + alternus, from alter.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.