English Explanatory Dictionary

preposition

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. 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.
  2. An adposition.
  3. A proposition; an exposition; a discourse.
verb
  1. Alternative spelling of pre-position.

Pronunciation

prĕp-ə-zĭsh'ən /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/ en-us-preposition.ogg /ˈpɹiːpəˌzɪʃən/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-preposition (verb).wav

Word forms

preposition prepositions præposition prepositioning prepositioned pre-position

Etymology

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.

Related words

preverb prepose prepositive

Derived words

intransitive preposition phrasal preposition prepositional prepositionally prepositional phrase prepositionhood prepositionless preposition of place preposition of time
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on P Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary