apposition

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See also: Apposition

English

Etymology

From Middle English apposicioun, from Middle French apposition, from Latin appositiō, past participle of appōnere (“to put near”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌæpəˈzɪʃn̩/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

Examples (grammar)
  • my friend Alice
    The name “Alice” is in apposition to “my friend”. As a restrictive appositive it typically takes no commas.
  • my eldest sister, Hannah, is 35
    The name “Hannah” is in apposition to “my eldest sister”. As a nonrestrictive appositive it takes commas.

apposition (countable and uncountable, plural appositions)

  2. (grammar) A construction in which one noun or noun phrase is placed with another as an explanatory equivalent, both of them having the same syntactic function in the sentence.
    Synonym: parathesis
    • 2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look At `Hobson-Jobson'”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27, number 1, page 65:
      The apposition in the title has been read as indicating that ‘Hobson-Jobson’ is equivalent to ‘colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases’.
  4. (grammar) The relationship between such nouns or noun phrases.
  5. The quality of being side by side, apposed instead of opposed, next to each other.
  6. A placing of two things side by side, or the fitting together of two things.
  7. (biology) The growth of successive layers of a cell wall.
  8. (rhetoric) Appositio, the addition of an element not syntactically required.
  9. A public disputation by scholars.
  10. (UK) A (now purely ceremonial) speech day at St Paul's School, London.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

Finnish

Noun

apposition

  1. genitive singular of appositio

French

Etymology

From Latin appositiōnem.

Pronunciation

Noun

apposition f (plural appositions)

  1. apposition

Further reading

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