preposition
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See also: pre-position and préposition
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English preposicioun, from Old French preposicion, from Latin praepositio, praepositionem, from praepono (“to place before”), equivalent to pre- + position. Compare French préposition. So called because it is placed before the word with which it is phrased, as in a bridge of iron, he comes from town, it is good for food, he escaped by running.
Alternative forms
- præposition (archaic)
Pronunciation
Noun
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preposition (plural prepositions)
- (grammar, strict sense) Any of a class of non-inflecting words and multiword terms typically employed to connect a following noun or a pronoun, in an adjectival or adverbial sense, with some other word: a particle used with a noun or pronoun (in English always in the objective case) to make a phrase limiting some other word.
- 1844, E. A. Andrews, First Lessions in Latin; or Introduction to Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Grammar, 6th edition, Boston, page 91:
- 322. The parts of speech which are neither declined nor conjugated, are called by the general name of particles. 323. They are adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.
- 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 9, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 495:
- And in (121) below, we see that when a wh-NP is used as the Object of a Preposition, the whole Prepositional Phrase can undergo WH MOVEMENT:
(121) (a) [To whom] can I send this letter —?
(121) (b) [About what] are they quarrelling —?
(121) (c) [In which book] did you read about it —?
- 2014 June 1, “Net Neutrality”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 5, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:
- I love this girl. “On which I can get my hands” — even in her darkest moment, she cannot bring herself to end a sentence with a preposition.
- (grammar, broad sense) An adposition.
- (obsolete) A proposition; an exposition; a discourse.
- 1811 [1516], Robert Fabyan, edited by Sir Henry Ellis, The New Chronicles of England and France, page 116:
- […] he made a longe preposicion & oracion cōcernynge yͤ allegiaūce which he exortyd his lordes to owe
Hypernyms
- (grammar, strict sense): adposition; part of speech; term; word
Hyponyms
- (grammar, strict sense): intransitive preposition, phrasal preposition, preposition of place
Coordinate terms
- (grammar, strict sense): circumposition
- (grammar, strict sense): postposition
Derived terms
terms derived from preposition (noun)
Related terms
terms related to preposition (noun)
Translations
grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
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See also
Etymology 2
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈpɹiːpəˌzɪʃən/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Verb
preposition (third-person singular simple present prepositions, present participle prepositioning, simple past and past participle prepositioned)
- (sometimes proscribed) Alternative spelling of pre-position.
- It is important to preposition the material before turning on the machine.
Translations
to place in a location before some other event occurs
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Finnish
Noun
preposition
Interlingua
Noun
preposition (plural prepositiones)
- (grammar) A word that is used in conjunction with a noun or pronoun in order to form a phrase.
Swedish
Noun
preposition c
- a preposition (part of speech)
Declension
Declension of preposition