apposition

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

• appositional
• malapposition
• reapposition

 

Translations

grammatical construction

• Bulgarian: приложение (bg) (priloženie)
• Catalan: aposició (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 同位語／同位语 (zh) (tóngwèiyǔ)

• Czech: přístavek (cs) m
• Danish: navnetillæg, navnesamstilling
• Dutch: bijstelling (nl) f, appositie (nl) f
• Finnish: appositio (fi), rinnastus (fi)
• French: apposition (fr) f
• German: Apposition (de) f, Beisatz (de) m, Beifügung (de) f
• Greek: παράθεση (el) f (paráthesi)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Ido: adpozo (io)
• Irish: comhaisnéis f
• Italian: apposizione f
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Manx: co-aishnys f
• Polish: apozycja f
• Portuguese: aposição (pt) f, aposto (pt) m
• Romanian: apoziție (ro)
• Russian: приложе́ние (ru) n (priložénije)
• Spanish: aposición (es) f
• Swahili: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: apposition (sv) c
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

relationship in such construction

• Finnish: rinnasteisuus (fi)
• Swedish: apposition (sv) c

quality of being side by side

• Finnish: rinnakkaisuus (fi)
• Portuguese: aposição (pt) f

placing of two things side by side

• Catalan: aposició (ca) f
• Finnish: rinnastaminen (fi)
• Portuguese: aposição (pt) f

biology: growth of successive layers of cell wall

• Catalan: aposició (ca) f
• Finnish: appositio (fi), kerrostuminen
• German: Apposition (de) f
• Polish: apozycja f
• Portuguese: aposição (pt) f

rhetoric: appositio — see appositio

Further reading

• apposition on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Finnish

Noun

apposition

1. genitive singular of appositio

French

Etymology

From Latin appositiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.po.zi.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

apposition f (plural appositions)

1. apposition

Related terms

• apposer

Further reading

• “apposition”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.