PREPOSITION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does preposition mean? 

• PREPOSITION (noun)
  The noun PREPOSITION has 2 senses:

1. a function word that combines with a noun or pronoun or noun phrase to form a prepositional phrase that can have an adverbial or adjectival relation to some other word

2. (linguistics) the placing of one linguistic element before another (as placing a modifier before the word it modifies in a sentence or placing an affix before the base to which it is attached)

  Familiarity information: PREPOSITION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PREPOSITION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A function word that combines with a noun or pronoun or noun phrase to form a prepositional phrase that can have an adverbial or adjectival relation to some other word

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("preposition" is a kind of...):

closed-class word; function word (a word that is uninflected and serves a grammatical function but has little identifiable meaning)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(linguistics) the placing of one linguistic element before another (as placing a modifier before the word it modifies in a sentence or placing an affix before the base to which it is attached)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("preposition" is a kind of...):

place; position (an item on a list or in a sequence)

Domain category:

linguistics (the scientific study of language)

Derivation:

prepose (place before another constituent in the sentence)