Adpositions

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A class of words that express spatial, temporal, or logical relationships by linking nouns or pronouns to other elements in a sentence
2. Grammatical elements that serve to indicate the relationships between a noun or pronoun and other words, often showing direction, location, or time
3. Linguistic items that function to connect nouns or pronouns with verbs, adjectives, or other nouns, clarifying their roles and meanings in context

Etymology: "Adpositions" is the plural of "adposition," a grammatical term for the general class that includes prepositions and postpositions. The label is built from the prefix "ad-" ("to, toward") and "position," so an adposition is literally something placed near or next to a noun or pronoun to show how it relates to the rest of the sentence. The word traces back to Latin "adpositio," formed from "adpositum," the past participle of "adponere," an alternative form of "apponere," meaning "to put near." Latin grammarians used the root "positio" for the placing of things, and the "ad-" prefix adds the sense of putting something beside or toward another thing. English took the compound in the sense of a placing-near, so the grammatical meaning is a metaphor built on a physical act of setting one thing beside another.

Synonyms: prepositions, postpositions