subaltern
/sʌbˈɔltəɹn/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.22 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of a lower rank or position; inferior or secondary; especially (military) ranking as a junior officer, below the rank of captain.
adj
Asserting only a part of what is asserted in a related proposition.
noun
A subordinate.
noun
A commissioned officer having a rank below that of captain; a lieutenant or second lieutenant.
British usage
noun
A subaltern proposition; a proposition implied by a universal proposition.
noun
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.
Example Sentences
- "a subaltern officer"
- "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."
- "Celebrating the subversive practices of subaltern groups"
- "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."
- "As a subaltern of 24, Neave was captured in the defence of Calais in May 1940."
- "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"."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /sʌbˈɔltəɹn/
- British English: /ˈsʌb.əltən/
Usage
- British usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Military.