juxtaposition
/ˌd͡ʒʌk.stə.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/
juxtaposition means the nearness of objects with little or no delimiter. It carries an Arena rating of 1854, earned across 12 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, juxtaposition ranks #947 of 17,116 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,470 of 17,118 for Most Ponderous Words, #2,856 of 17,130 for Most Ingenious Words, #3,166 of 17,114 for Most Satisfying to Say.
juxtaposition is pronounced /ˌd͡ʒʌk.stə.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/.
Why “juxtaposition” is a great word
The act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side, often to compare, contrast, or create an interesting effect. From French juxtaposition, from Latin iuxtā ("near, beside") and Latin pōnō ("to place"), first attested in English in the 1660s. Unlike "combination," which implies a merging into a unified whole, or "separation," which denotes a state of being set apart, juxtaposition is the deliberate act of placing distinct entities in intimate proximity while preserving their individuality. It is the antique lace collar against a leather jacket, the scent of jasmine beneath the acrid city rain, the warmth of a living hand resting on cold marble—an artful adjacency where meaning flickers not in the things themselves, but in the charged space between.
Etymology
Borrowed from French juxtaposition, from Latin iuxtā (“near”) (from Latin iungō (“to join”)) + French position (“position”) (from Latin pōnō (“to place”)).
noun
- The nearness of objects with little or no delimiter.e.g.“It is the object of the mechanical atomistic philosophy to confound synthesis with synartesis, or rather with mere juxtaposition of corpuscles separated by invisible interspaces.”
- The nearness of objects with little or no delimiter.; An absence of linking elements in a group of words that are listed together.e.g.“Example: mother father instead of mother and father”
- The nearness of objects with little or no delimiter.; An absence of operators in an expression.e.g.“Using juxtaposition for multiplication saves space when writing longer expressions. a#92;timesb collapses to ab.”
- The extra emphasis given to a comparison when the contrasted objects are close together.e.g.“There was a poignant juxtaposition between the boys laughing in the street and the girl crying on the balcony above.”
- The extra emphasis given to a comparison when the contrasted objects are close together.; Two or more contrasting sounds, colours, styles etc. placed together for stylistic effect.e.g.“The juxtaposition of the bright yellows on the dark background made the painting appear three dimensional.”
- The extra emphasis given to a comparison when the contrasted objects are close together.; The close placement of two ideas to imply a link that may not exist.e.g.“Example: In 1965 the government was elected; in 1965 the economy took a dive.”
verb
- To place in juxtaposition.
Words closest in meaning
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