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junction

[juhngk-shuh n]
See more synonyms for junction on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. an act of joining; combining.
  2. the state of being joined; union.
  3. a place or point where two or more things are joined, as a seam or joint.
  4. a place or point where two or more things meet or converge.
  5. a place or station where railroad lines meet, cross, or diverge.
  6. an intersection of streets, highways, or roads.
  7. something that joins other things together: He used the device as a junction between the branch circuit and the main power lines.
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Origin of junction

1705–15; < Latin junctiōn- (stem of junctiō), equivalent to junct(us), past participle of jungere to join (jung- join + -tus past participle suffix) + -iōn- -ion
Related formsjunc·tion·al, adjectivein·ter·junc·tion, noun
Can be confusedjunction juncture (see synonym study at the current entry)

Synonyms

See more synonyms for junction on Thesaurus.com
3. union, linkage, coupling; welt. 7. connection. Junction, juncture refer to a place, line, or point at which two or more things join. A junction is also a place where things come together: the junction of two rivers. A juncture is a line or point at which two bodies are joined, or a point of exigency or crisis in time: the juncture of the head and neck; a critical juncture in a struggle.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for junction

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • This junction O'Neill was determined to defeat, and did defeat it;—but let us not anticipate.

    Ridgeway

    Scian Dubh

  • Once this junction was formed, the Hudson lay open--and after that?

    In the Valley

    Harold Frederic

  • It is about two miles from the junction of the Powow River with the Merrimac.

  • This was somewhere in what is now central Kansas near Junction City.

    Introductory American History

    Henry Eldridge Bourne

  • Shall you drive to the junction if you hear nothing at the station?

    Jan and Her Job

    L. Allen Harker

British Dictionary definitions for junction

junction

noun
  1. a place where several routes, lines, or roads meet, link, or cross each othera railway junction
  2. a point on a motorway where traffic may leave or join it
  3. electronics
    1. a contact between two different metals or other materialsa thermocouple junction
    2. a transition region between regions of differing electrical properties in a semiconductora p-n junction
  4. a connection between two or more conductors or sections of transmission lines
  5. the act of joining or the state of being joined
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Derived Formsjunctional, adjective

Word Origin

C18: from Latin junctiō a joining, from junctus joined, from jungere to join
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for junction

n.

1711, "act of joining," from Latin iunctionem (nominative iunctio), noun of action from past participle stem of iungere "to join together" (see jugular). Meaning "place where things meet" first attested 1836, American English, originally in reference to railroad tracks.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
junction in Medicine

junction

(jŭngk′shən)
n.
  1. The act or process of joining or the condition of being joined.
  2. A place where two things join or meet, especially a place where two things come together and one terminates.
  3. A transition layer or boundary between two different materials or between physically different regions in a single material.
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Related formsjunc′tion•al adj.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.