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sub-altern

 - 2 dictionary results

sub⋅al⋅tern

  [suhb-awl-tern or, especially for 3, 6, suhb-uhl-turn]
Use sub-altern in a Sentence
–adjective
1. lower in rank; subordinate: a subaltern employee.
2. British Military. noting a commissioned officer below the rank of captain.
3. Logic.
a. denoting the relation of one proposition to another when the first proposition is implied by the second but the second is not implied by the first.
b. (in Aristotelian logic) denoting the relation of a particular proposition to a universal proposition having the same subject, predicate, and quality.
c. of or pertaining to a proposition having either of these relations to another.
–noun
4. a person who has a subordinate position.
5. British Military. a commissioned officer below the rank of captain.
6. Logic. a subaltern proposition.
Origin:
1575–85; < LL subalternus, equiv. to sub- sub- + alternus alternate

Related forms:
sub⋅al⋅ter⋅ni⋅ty, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

subaltern 
"subordinate," c.1400 (implied in subalternal), from M.Fr. subalterne, from L.L. subalternus, from L. sub "under" + alternus "every other (one), one after the other" (see alternate). The noun meaning "person of inferior rank" is attested from 1605; as the designation of an army officer, from 1690.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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