subalternate

[ suhb-awl-ter-nit, -al- ]

adjective

1. subordinate.
2. Botany. placed singly along an axis, but tending to become grouped oppositely.

subalternate

/ sʌbˌɔːltəˈneɪʃən; sʌbˈɔːltənɪt /

adjective

1. (of leaves) having an arrangement intermediate between alternate and opposite
2. following in turn
3. of lesser quality or status

Derived Forms

• subalternation, noun

Other Words From

• sub·al·ter·na·tion [suhb-awl-ter-, ney, -sh, uh, n, -al-], noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of subalternate¹

1400–50; late Middle English < Medieval Latin subalternātus (past participle of subalternāre to subordinate), equivalent to subaltern ( us ) subaltern + -ātus -ate ¹

Example Sentences

In botany he gave from Ray, Morrison and Tournefort “a pretty exact botanick lexicon, which was what we really wanted before,” with an account of all the “kinds and subalternate species of plants, and their specific differences” on Ray’s method.

From Project Gutenberg

If the Universal is true, its subalternate Particular is true: but the truth of the Particular does not similarly imply the truth of its Subalternating Universal.

From Project Gutenberg

It is only when I is regarded as the Contradictory of E, that it can properly be said to be Subalternate to A. In that case the meaning of Some is "not none," i.e.,

From Project Gutenberg

But when Some is taken as the sign of Particular quantity simply, i.e., as meaning "not all," or "some at most," I is not Subalternate to A, but opposed to it in the sense that the truth of the one is incompatible with the truth of the other.

From Project Gutenberg

Unless a form had a use, it was left unnamed, like the Subalternate forms of Syllogism: Nomen habent nullum: nec, si bene colligis, usum.

From Project Gutenberg