Postposing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of moving a word or phrase to a later position within a sentence, often for emphasis or stylistic reasons
2. Shifting a linguistic element to follow other components in the sentence structure to affect meaning or flow
3. Placing certain words or expressions after their usual position in a sentence as a rhetorical or grammatical device

Etymology: "Postposing" is the present participle and gerund of "postpose", a verb borrowed from French "postposer", which combines the prefix "post-", meaning "after", with "poser", "to place". The English verb thus describes placing something after where it would normally go, and it is essentially a literal translation of the Latin-derived "postpositus", "placed after", that underlies the French form. The word is built from transparent parts, so its history is plain: "post-" is a prefix meaning "after" (the same element found in "postwar" and "postscript"), and "pose" comes from the same root as "position", which is why "postpose" and "postposition" feel like close relatives. Its grammatical twin, "preposing", follows the same pattern with "pre-" meaning "before".

Synonyms: delaying, deferring

Antonyms: preposing, advancing