Meanings
preposition1
plural prepositions · alternative præposition
- strict sensegrammarAny of a class of non-inflecting words and multiword terms typically employed to connect a following noun or a pronoun, in an adjectival or adverbial sense, with some other word: a particle used with a noun or pronoun (in English always in the objective case) to make a phrase limiting some other word.
I love this girl. “On which I can get my hands” — even in her darkest moment, she cannot bring herself to end a sentence with a preposition.
2014 June 1, “Net Neutrality”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 5, John Oliver (actor), via HBO2 more examples
322. The parts of speech which are neither declined nor conjugated, are called by the general name of particles. 323. They are adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.
1844, E. A. Andrews, First Lessions in Latin; or Introduction to Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Grammar, 6th edition, Boston, page 91And in (121) below, we see that when a wh-NP is used as the Object of a Preposition, the whole Prepositional Phrase can undergo WH MOVEMENT: (121) (a) [To whom] can I send this letter —? (121) (b) [About what] are they quarrelling —? (121) (c) [In which book] did you read about it —?
1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 9, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 495 - broadlygrammarAn adposition.
- obsoleteA proposition; an exposition; a discourse.
[…] he made a longe preposicion & oracion cōcernynge yͤ allegiaūce which he exortyd his lordes to owe
1811 [1516], Robert Fabyan, edited by Sir Henry Ellis, The New Chronicles of England and France, page 116
preposition2
present singular third person prepositions · participle present prepositioning · participle past prepositioned · past prepositioned · alternative pre-position
- alternativeproscribedsometimesAlternative spelling of pre-position.
It is important to preposition the material before turning on the machine.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
preposition · noun
- Latinpraepositio, praepositionem
- Old Frenchpreposicion
- Middle Englishpreposicioun
- Englishpreposition
From Middle English preposicioun, from Old French preposicion, from Latin praepositio, praepositionem, from praepono (“to place before”), equivalent to pre- + position. Compare French préposition. So called because it is placed before the word with which it is phrased, as in a bridge of iron, he comes from town, it is good for food, he escaped by running.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →preposition · verb
- Proto-Indo-European*per-
- Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
- Proto-Indo-European*préh₂i?
- Proto-Italic*prai
- Proto-Italic*prai-
- Latinprae-
- Middle Englishpre-
- Englishpre-
- Englishposition
- Englishpreposition
Translations
Afrikaans voorsetsel
- voorsetselgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Ancient Greek πρόθεσις
- πρόθεσις (próthesis)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Arabic جَارّ, حَرْف جَرّ
- جَارّ (jārr)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- حَرْف جَرّ (ḥarf jarr)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Bengali পদান্বয়ী অব্যয়
- পদান্বয়ী অব্যয় (podannoẏi obboẏ)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Bulgarian предло́г
- предло́г (predlóg)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Catalan preposició
- preposiciógrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Chinese Cantonese 介詞 /介词, 前置詞 /前置词
- 介詞 /介词 (gaai³ ci⁴)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- 前置詞 /前置词 (cin⁴ zi³ ci⁴)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Chinese Mandarin 介詞 /介词, 前置詞 /前置词
- 介詞 /介词 (jiècí)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- 前置詞 /前置词 (qiánzhìcí)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Czech předložka, prepozice
- předložkagrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- prepozicegrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Danish forholdsord, præposition
- forholdsordgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- præpositiongrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Dutch voorzetsel, kastwoord
- voorzetselgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- kastwoordgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Esperanto prepozicio
- prepoziciogrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Estonian eessõna
- eessõnagrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Finnish prepositio
- prepositiogrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
French préposition, prépositionner
- prépositiongrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- prépositionnerto place in a location before some other event occurs
German Präposition, Verhältniswort
- Präpositiongrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- Verhältniswortgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- Vorwortgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- Lagewortgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Greek πρόθεση
- πρόθεση (próthesi)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Hawaiian ʻinaleo, ʻinawaena
- ʻinaleogrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- ʻinawaenagrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Hebrew מילת יחס, מִלַּת יַחַס
- מילת יחסgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- מִלַּת יַחַס (milát yákhas)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Hindi पूर्वसर्ग
- पूर्वसर्ग (pūrvasarg)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Hungarian elöljáró, elöljárószó
- elöljárógrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- elöljárószógrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Icelandic forsetning
- forsetninggrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Indonesian kata depan
- kata depangrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Irish réamhfhocal
- réamhfhocalgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Italian preposizione
- preposizionegrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Japanese 前置詞
- 前置詞 (zenchishi)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Korean 전치사
- 전치사 (jeonchisa)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Latin praepositio
- praepositiogrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Latvian prievārds, prepozīcija
- prievārdsgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- prepozīcijagrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Lithuanian prielinksnis
- prielinksnisgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Malay kata depan, kata sendi nama
- kata depangrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- kata sendi namagrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Norwegian Bokmål preposisjon
- preposisjongrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Polish prepozycja, przyimek
- prepozycjaposition of a word
- przyimekgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- umieszczać z wyprzedzeniemto place in a location before some other event occurs
- umieścić z wyprzedzeniemto place in a location before some other event occurs
Portuguese preposição, pré-posicionar
- preposiçãogrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- pré-posicionarto place in a location before some other event occurs
Romanian prepoziție
- prepozițiegrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Russian предло́г
- предло́г (predlóg)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Scottish Gaelic roimhear
- roimheargrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Slovak predložka
- predložkagrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Spanish preposición, preposición
- preposiciónposition of a word
- preposicióngrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Swahili kihusishi
- kihusishigrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Tagalog pang-ukol
- pang-ukolgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Thai บุพบท, บุรพบท
- บุพบท (bùp-pá-bòt)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- บุรพบท (bù-rá-pá-bòt)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Turkish ilgeç, edat
- ilgeçgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- edatgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Ukrainian прийме́нник
- прийме́нник (pryjménnyk)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Urdu حَرْفِ جار, حَرْفِ جَر
- حَرْفِ جار (harf-i jār)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
- حَرْفِ جَر (harf-i jar)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Vietnamese giới từ
- giới từgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Welsh arddodiad
- arddodiadgrammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Yiddish פּרעפּאָזיציע
- פּרעפּאָזיציע (prepozitsye)grammar: a type of word like "of, from, for, by"
Cite this entry
preposition. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/preposition
“preposition.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/preposition. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “preposition,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/preposition.
Source: preposition on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.