juxtaposition

UK/ˌd͡ʒʌk.stə.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/US/ˌd͡ʒʌk.stə.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/

nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,279 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: juxtapositions

Juxtaposition is the placing of contrasting things next to each other. A striking juxtaposition.

The contrast does the work, since neither thing alone would say anything. Juxtaposition in a photograph is what turns a record into a comment.

Definitions of juxtaposition

1nounjuxtapositionThe placing of contrasting things next to each other.C1
“The juxtaposition of the two photographs made the whole argument.”

juxtaposition is a placing.

Where it comes from

French juxtaposition comes from Latin iuxta, near, plus position.

Latin
iuxtā — near
French
juxtaposition
English, today
juxtaposition

Built from

iungō · Latin — to join
position · French — position
pōnō · Latin — to place

French juxtaposition, from Latin iuxtā (“near”) (from Latin iungō (“to join”)) + French position (“position”) (from Latin pōnō (“to place”)).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

juxtaposition in the wild

Ezra Pound, in his adaptation of Chinese and Japanese poetry, made the stark juxtaposition of images an important part of English-language poetry.
Parataxis
However, it is unmistakably his." Harburg did not know where he acquired the title, saying, "the juxtaposition of those two phrases is almost a whole world of philosophy".
Last Night When We Were Young
The gallery represents a unique juxtaposition of architecture and art.
Amdavad ni Gufa
A Pleistocene fault has caused the juxtaposition of six Jurassic formations.
Cowthick Quarry

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the pōnō family

position purpose

juxtaposition — used about once every 20,553 pages · #13,279 · point at the bar for the others

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