any member of a small class of words distinguished in many languages by their function as connectors between words, phrases, clauses, or sentences, as and, because, but, however.
any other word or expression of similar function, as in any case.
the act of conjoining; combination.
the state of being conjoined; union; association: The police, in conjunction with the army, established order.
a combination of events or circumstances.
Logic.
a compound proposition that is true if and only if all of its component propositions are true.
the relation among the components of such a proposition, usually expressed by AND or & or ·.
Astronomy.
the coincidence of two or more heavenly bodies at the same celestial longitude.
the state of two or more such coinciding heavenly bodies.
Astrology. the coincidence of two or more heavenly bodies at the same celestial longitude, characterized by a unification of the planetary energies; an astrological aspect.
Origin of conjunction
1350–1400;Middle Englishconjunccio(u)n (< Anglo-French) < Latinconjunctiōn- (stem of conjunctiō). See conjunct, -ion
Related formscon·junc·tion·al, adjectivecon·junc·tion·al·ly, adverbnon·con·junc·tion, noun
any word or group of words, other than a relative pronoun, that connects words, phrases, or clauses; for example and and whileAbbreviation: conj See also coordinating conjunction, subordinating conjunction
astronomy
the position of any two bodies that appear to meet, such as two celestial bodies on the celestial sphere
Also called: solar conjunctionthe position of a planet or the moon when it is in line with the sun as seen from the earth. The inner planets are in inferior conjunction when the planet is between the earth and the sun and in superior conjunction when the sun lies between the earth and the planetCompare opposition (def. 8a)
late 14c., originally of planets, from Old French conjonction "union, joining, sexual intercourse" (12c.), from Latin coniunctionem (nominative coniunctio), from past participle stem of coniugare "join together" (see conjugal). Cf. Italian congiunzione, Spanish conjunción. Grammatical sense (late 14c.) was in Latin, a loan-translation of Greek syndesmos. The word also had the meaning "sexual union" 17c.-18c.
The position of two celestial bodies when they have the same celestial longitude, especially a configuration in which a planet or the Moon lies on a straight line from Earth to or through the Sun. Planets in this position are not visible to the naked eye because they are in line with the Sun and obscured by its glare; the Moon in this position is new.♦ The inner planets Mercury and Venus have two conjunction points with Earth. Either planet is at inferior conjunction when it lies directly between the Earth and the Sun, and is at superior conjunction when it lies directly opposite Earth on the far side of the Sun. The outer planets have only one conjunction point with Earth, when they lie opposite Earth on the far side of the Sun. Compare opposition. See more at elongation.
A word that joins words or groups of words. There are three kinds of conjunctions: coordinating, correlative, and subordinating. Coordinating conjunctions include and, but, or, not, yet, for, and so. Correlative conjunctions include the words in the pairs either/or, both/and, and neither/nor. Subordinating conjunctions begin subordinate clauses (seesubordination) and join them to the rest of the sentence: “She didn't learn the real reason until she left the valley.”
