apposition

Meanings

Plural: appositions

Noun

• a grammatical relation between a word and a noun phrase that follows
  • "`Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer' is an example of apposition"
• (biology) growth in the thickness of a cell wall by the deposit of successive layers of material
• the act of positioning close together (or side by side)
• 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.
• The relationship between such nouns or noun phrases.
• The quality of being side by side, apposed instead of opposed, next to each other.
• A placing of two things side by side, or the fitting together of two things.
• The growth of successive layers of a cell wall.
• Appositio, the addition of an element not syntactically required.
• A public disputation by scholars.
• A (now purely ceremonial) speech day at St Paul's School, London.

Synonyms

collocation, juxtaposition, parathesis