juxtaposition

plural juxtapositions · alternative juxta-position

1. countableuncountableThe nearness of objects with little or no delimiter.

   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.

   1809, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Friend

   Synonyms: apposition

   1. countableuncountablegrammarAn absence of linking elements in a group of words that are listed together.

      Example: mother father instead of mother and father

      Synonyms: apposition

   2. countableuncountablemathematicsAn absence of operators in an expression.

      Using juxtaposition for multiplication saves space when writing longer expressions. a#92;timesb collapses to ab.

      1 more example

      A fundamental operation on strings is string concatenation which we will denote by juxtaposition.

      2007, Lawrence Moss, Hans-Jörg Tiede, “Applications of Modal Logic in Linguistics”, in P. Blackburn et al., editors, Handbook of Modal Logic, Elsevier, page 1054

      Synonyms: apposition

2. countableuncountableThe extra emphasis given to a comparison when the contrasted objects are close together.

   There was a poignant juxtaposition between the boys laughing in the street and the girl crying on the balcony above.

   1. countableuncountableartTwo or more contrasting sounds, colours, styles etc. placed together for stylistic effect.

      The juxtaposition of the bright yellows on the dark background made the painting appear three dimensional.

      1 more example

      Her mother favored a multiyear project: obscenities carved in intricate and clever juxtapositions, descending every finger, curling in lettered whorls across the palm, fanning in offensive rays across the opisthenar, which is the name for the back of the hand, a word that Leilani knew because she had studied the structure of the human hand in detail, the better to understand her difference.

      2001, Dean R. Koontz, One Door Away from Heaven, Random House, →ISBN, page 497

   2. countablerhetoricuncountableThe close placement of two ideas to imply a link that may not exist.

      Example: In 1965 the government was elected; in 1965 the economy took a dive.

present singular third person juxtapositions · participle present juxtapositioning · participle past juxtapositioned · past juxtapositioned · alternative juxta-position

1. To place in juxtaposition.