positional

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word positional. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word positional, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say positional in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word positional you have here. The definition of the word positional will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofpositional, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Etymology

From position +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

  • Audio (US):(file)

Adjective

positional (not comparable)

  1. Relating to the position of something.
    • 2024 October 14, Issy Ronald, “Woman killed by malfunctioning ottoman bed”, in CNN‎:
      The mattress platform on Davey’s bed fell unexpectedly, “trapping her neck against the upper surface of the side panel of the bed’s base,” Chipperfield explained. “Unable to free herself, she died of positional asphyxia. One of the two gas-lift pistons was defective.”
  2. (economics) Having or pertaining to a value that is a function of its social desirability, as opposed to its utility.
    • 1998, Samuel Bowles, Maurizio Franzini, Ugo Pagano, The Politics and Economics of Power, page 61:
      Of course, this ex post problem may have a negative feedback on the ex ante desirability of having market transactions for positional goods.
    • 2013, Anastasios S. Korkotsides, Against Utility-Based Economics: On a Life-Based Approach, page 235:
      Since economics is about scarcity, its study must be based on positional conflict, as indicated by the behaviour of the nouveau riche, or of poor people, who proudly demonstrate their latest smartphones or plasma TV sets.
    • 2014, Shenggen Fan, Ravi Kanbur, Shang-Jin Wei, The Oxford Companion to the Economics of China:
      Regarding saving and consumption, nonpositional and positional consumption are distinguished.
    • 2016, Stavros A. Drakopoulos, Comparisons in Economic Thought, page 69:
      Max Weber was also aware of positional considerations when he defined social status as "an effective claim to social esteem in terms of positive or negative privileges" (Weber, 1922: 305).
  3. (chess) Based on long-term strategy, on gaining and exploiting small advantages, and on analyzing the larger position, rather than calculating more immediate tactics.
  4. (programming) An argument that is passed to a subroutine according to its position in the invocation code, rather than on its name; compare with named.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

positional (plural positionals)

  1. (linguistics) A member of a class of verb in some languages that indicates position or posture.

Anagrams

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia