inferior vs subaltern

inferior

adj
  • Lower in rank, status, or quality. 

  • Nearer to the Sun than the Earth is. 

  • (of a court or tribunal) Susceptible to having its decisions overturned by a higher court. 

  • On the side of a flower which is next to the bract. 

  • Situated further below (another part of the body), a direction that in humans corresponds to caudad. 

  • Situated in a relatively low posterior or ventral position in a quadrupedal body. 

  • Situated below some other organ (said of a calyx when free from the ovary, and therefore below it, or of an ovary with an adherent and therefore inferior calyx). 

  • Of low rank, standard or quality. 

  • Denoting goods or services which are in greater demand during a recession than in a boom, for example second-hand clothes. 

  • Below the horizon. 

  • Printed in subscript. 

noun
  • An inferior letter, figure, or symbol. 

  • A person of lower rank, stature, or ability to another. 

subaltern

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

  • Asserting only a part of what is asserted in a related proposition. 

noun
  • A subordinate. 

  • 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. 

  • A commissioned officer having a rank below that of captain; a lieutenant or second lieutenant. 

How often have the words inferior and subaltern occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )