English

Adjective

subaltern ‎(comparative more subaltern, superlative most subaltern)

1. Of a lower rank or position; inferior or secondary; especially (military) ranking as a junior officer, below the rank of captain.

   a subaltern officer

2. (logic) Asserting only a part of what is asserted in a related proposition.

Translations

Noun

subaltern ‎(plural subalterns)

1. A subordinate.
2. (Britain) A commissioned officer having a rank below that of captain; a lieutenant or second lieutenant.
   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray:

     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.

3. (logic) A subaltern proposition; a proposition implied by a universal proposition. For example, some crows are black is a subaltern of all crows are black.
4. (social sciences) 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.
   • 2012, Aparajita De, ‎Amrita Ghosh, ‎Ujjwal Jana, Subaltern Vision: A Study in Postcolonial Indian English Text (page 109)

     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.

See also

• lieutenant

Translations