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Webster 1913 Edition

Preposition

Prepˊo-si′tion

,
Noun.
[L.
praepositio
, fr.
praeponere
to place before;
prae
before +
ponere
to put, place: cf. F.
préposition
. See
Position
, and cf.
Provost
.]
1.
(Gram.)
A word employed to connect a 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; – so called because usually placed before the word with which it is phrased;
as, a bridge of iron; he comes from town; it is good for food; he escaped by running.
2.
A proposition; an exposition; a discourse.
[Obs.]
He made a long
preposition
and oration.
Fabyan.

Webster 1828 Edition

Preposition

PREPOSI'TION

,
Noun.
s as z. [L. proepositio, proepono, proepositus; proe and pono, to put.] In grammar, a word usually put before another to express some relation or quality, action or motion to or from the thing specified; as medicines salutary to health; music agreeable to the ear; virtue is valued for its excellence; a man is riding to Oxford from London. Prepositions govern cases of nouns, and in English are sometimes placed after the word governed; as, which person do you speak to? for, to which person do you speak? This separation of the preposition from the governed word is sometimes allowable in colloquial use, but is generally inelegant.

Definition 2025

preposition

preposition

See also: préposition

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • enPR: prĕp-ə-zĭsh'ən, IPA(key): /ˌprɛpəˈzɪʃən/

Noun

preposition ‎(plural prepositions)

  1. (grammar, strict sense) Any of a class of non-inflecting words 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.
    • 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 —?
  2. (obsolete) A proposition; an exposition; a discourse.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Robert Fabyan
      He made a long preposition and oration.
Hypernyms
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

See also

Etymology 2

From pre- + position

Alternative forms

  • pre-position

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈpriːpəˌzɪʃən/

Verb

preposition ‎(third-person singular simple present prepositions, present participle prepositioning, simple past and past participle prepositioned)

  1. To place in a location before some other event occurs.
    It is important to preposition the material before turning on the machine.

Translations

Finnish

Noun

preposition

  1. Genitive singular form of prepositio.

Interlingua

Noun

preposition ‎(plural prepositiones)

  1. (grammar) A word that is used in conjunction with a noun or pronoun in order to form a phrase.

Swedish

Noun

preposition c

  1. a preposition (part of speech)

Declension

Inflection of preposition 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative preposition prepositionen prepositioner prepositionerna
Genitive prepositions prepositionens prepositioners prepositionernas

Related terms

  • prepositionell
  • prepositionsadverbial
  • prepositionsattribut
  • prepositionsuttryck

References

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin praepositio, praepositionem, from praepono ‎(“to place before”). Compare French préposition. So called because it is usually 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.

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