Dictionary

subaltern en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈsʌb.əltən/ (UK)
• /sʌbˈɔltəɹn/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈsʌbəltəɹn/ (US)

Etymology

From Middle French subalterne, from Late Latin subalternus, from Latin sub- + alternus, from alter.

Meanings

1. Of a lower rank or position; inferior or secondary; especially (military) ranking as a junior officer, below the rank of captain.
   • Two weeks after giving birth[…] she [Rachida Dati] was removed and offered no consolation prize other than the subaltern position of No 2 on the UMP's list for the next European elections. 2009 January 27, Agnes Poirier, “The fall of Rachida Dati reflects badly on the French president”, in The Guardian:
   • Celebrating the subversive practices of subaltern groups 2013, Isher-Paul Sahni, “More than Horseplay”, in Studies in Popular Culture, volume 35, page 81:
   • a subaltern officer
2. Asserting only a part of what is asserted in a related proposition.

Forms

Deriveds

subaltern studies

Synonyms

subordinate

Translations (7)

fi alisteinen (asserting only a part of what is asserted in a related proposition) · de Subalternoffizier (of a lower rank of position) · ru ста́рший лейтена́нт (of a lower rank of position) · de Subaltern (of a lower rank of position) · fr subalterne (of a lower rank of position) · fi nuorempi (of a lower rank of position) · es subalterno (of a lower rank of position)

subaltern en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈsʌb.əltən/ (UK)
• /sʌbˈɔltəɹn/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈsʌbəltəɹn/ (US)

Etymology

From Middle French subalterne, from Late Latin subalternus, from Latin sub- + alternus, from alter.

Meanings

1. A subordinate.
2. (UK) A commissioned officer having a rank below that of captain; a lieutenant or second lieutenant.
   • As a subaltern of 24, Neave was captured in the defence of Calais in May 1940. 2003 February 20, Ciar Byrne, “Colditz: remade with love”, in The Guardian:
   • She was an extraordinarily beautiful girl, Margaret Devereux ; and made all the men frantic by running away with a penniless young fellow ; a mere nobody sir a subaltern in a foot regiment, or something of that kind. 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:
3. A subaltern proposition; a proposition implied by a universal proposition.
4. (qualifier:literary theory) 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.
   • Young refers sardonically to the existence of reams of postcolonial "theory", and promises to give us "postcolonialism from below, which is what and where it should rightly be, given that it elaborates a politics of ‘the subaltern’, that is, subordinated classes and peoples". 2003 August 9, Steven Poole, “Postcolonialism and all that jazz”, in The Guardian:
   • In Ghosh's novel, a canonical western scientist is pitted against a counterscientific group of native folk-medicine practitioners led by Mangala, a subaltern in every conceivable meaning of the term. 2012, Aparajita De, Amrita Ghosh, Ujjwal Jana, Subaltern Vision: A Study in Postcolonial Indian English Text, page 109:

Forms

Antonyms

superaltern

Coordinates

lieutenant

Deriveds

subalternize · subalternism · subalternhood · subalternship

Translations (6)

fi nuorempi upseeri (commissioned officer) · bg младши офицер (commissioned officer) · fi johtopäätös (proposition implied by a universal proposition) · es subalterno (subordinate) · fi siirtomaa-alamainen (member of a group outside a hegemonic power structure) · uk підлеглий (subordinate)