interposition
Americannoun
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the act or fact of interposing or the condition of being interposed.
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something interposed.
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the doctrine that an individual state of the U.S. may oppose any federal action it believes encroaches on its sovereignty.
noun
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something interposed
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the act of interposing or the state of being interposed
Other Word Forms
- noninterposition noun
Etymology
Origin of interposition
1375–1425; late Middle English interposicio ( u ) n < Latin interpositiōn- (stem of interpositiō ), equivalent to interposit ( us ) (past participle of interpōnere to place between) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Interposition is intervening by inserting something between two people or groups. One example is your mom's interposition of the family dog between you and your sister in the back seat of the car before you can start fighting. Interposition is from the Latin interpositionem, " insertion," and root words meaning "put" and "between." Sometimes interposition is a physical "putting between," like when one person steps in to break up a shoving match between two others. It can also be a verbal interruption. In U.S. politics, interposition occurs when a state claims that a federal law is unconstitutional and won't enforce it; in that case, the state is figuratively stepping in between its residents and the federal government.
Vocabulary lists containing interposition
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There were even these fake legal theories known as "interposition" to resist the courts' orders about civil rights.
From Salon • May 29, 2025
In his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke specifically of the governor of Alabama "having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification."
From Salon • Oct. 31, 2021
But the interposition of Russia in Syria complicates matters.
From New York Times • Apr. 14, 2018
This interposition between school and parent is a hallmark of International Student Education Services Inc. in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, which Conrad said supplies “half or less than half” of Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall’s Chinese students.
From BusinessWeek • Oct. 19, 2011
It has been suggested that the major ice ages on our planet, which recur every hundred million years or so, may be due to the interposition of interstellar matter between the Sun and the Earth.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
