preposition

English

Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From Latin praepositio, from praeponere (to place before); prae (before) + ponere (to put, place); compare French préposition. (See position, and compare provost.) 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.

Alternative forms

• præposition (archaic)

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

preposition (plural prepositions)

1. (grammar): A closed class of non-inflecting words typically 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.
2. (obsolete) A proposition; an exposition; a discourse.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Robert Fabyan

     He made a long preposition and oration.

Coordinate terms

• adposition
• circumposition
• postposition

Derived terms

terms derived from preposition (noun)

preposition of time preposition of place prepositional

prepositionally prepositional phrase

Related terms

terms related to preposition (noun)

prepose

prepositive

Translations

grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"

Ancient Greek: πρόθεσις (próthesis) f. Arabic: جار (jārr) m., حرف جر (ḥarf jarr) m. Armenian: կապ (hy) (kap), նախդիր (hy) (naxdir) Breton: araogenn (br) Chechen: предложени Chinese: 介詞, 介词 (jiècí), 前置詞, 前置词 (qiánzhìcí) Croatian: prijedlog m., prepozicija f. Czech: předložka (cs) f. Danish: forholdsord (da), præposition (da) Dutch: voorzetsel (nl) n. Esperanto: prepozicio (eo) Estonian: eessõna (et) Finnish: prepositio (fi) French: préposition (fr) Galician: preposición (gl) f. German: Präposition (de) f., Verhältniswort (de) Greek: πρόθεση (el) f. (próthesi) Icelandic: forsetning (is) f. Indonesian: kata depan Interlingua: preposition Irish: réamhfhocal (ga) m.

Italian: preposizione (it) f. Japanese: 前置詞 (ぜんちし, zenchishi) Khmer: ធ្នាក់ (km) (thneak) Korean: 전치사 (jeonchisa) Kurdish: daçek (ku) f. Latin: praepositio (la) f. Latvian: prievārds (lv) m. Norwegian: preposisjon (no) m. Novial: prepositione Persian: حرف اضافه (fa) (harfe ezafeh) Polish: przyimek (pl) m. Portuguese: preposição (pt) f. Romanian: prepoziție (ro) f. Russian: предлог (ru) (predlóg) m. Scottish Gaelic: roimhear (gd) m. Slovene: prêdlog (sl) m. Spanish: preposición (es) f. Swedish: preposition (sv) c. Turkish: ilgeç (tr) Volapük: präpod (vo) West Frisian: ferhâldingswurd n.

See also

• preverb

Etymology 2

From pre- + position

Alternative forms

• pre-position

Pronunciation

• IPA: /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.

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Finnish

Noun

preposition

1. Genitive singular form of prepositio.

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Interlingua

Noun

preposition

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

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Swedish

Noun

preposition c.

1. a preposition (part of speech)

Declension

Declension of preposition

	singular		plural
Common	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	preposition	prepositionen	prepositioner	prepositionerna
genitive	prepositions	prepositionens	prepositioners	prepositionernas