position

American  

[puh-zish-uhn] / pəˈzɪʃ ən /

noun

• positions
  plural

1. condition with reference to place; location; situation.

2. a place occupied or to be occupied; site.

   a fortified position.

   Synonyms:

   spot, locality, station

3. the proper, appropriate, or usual place.

   out of position.

4. situation or condition, especially with relation to favorable or unfavorable circumstances.

   to be in an awkward position; to bargain from a position of strength.

5. status or standing.

   He has a position to maintain in the community.

   Synonyms:

   rank

6. high standing, as in society; important status.

   a person of wealth and position.

7. a post of employment.

   a position in a bank.

8. manner of being placed, disposed, or arranged.

   the relative position of the hands of a clock.

   Synonyms:

   arrangement, array, disposition, placement

9. bodily posture or attitude.

   to be in a sitting position.

10. mental attitude; stand.

    one's position on a controversial topic.

11. the act of positing.

12. something that is posited.

    Synonyms:

    principle, doctrine, contention, predication, assertion, dictum, thesis, postulate, hypothesis, proposition

13. Ballet. any of the five basic positions of the feet with which every step or movement begins and ends.

14. Music.

    1. the arrangement of tones in a chord, especially with regard to the location of the root tone in a triad or to the distance of the tones from each other.

    2. any of the places on the fingerboard of a stringed instrument where the fingers stop the strings to produce the variouspitches.

    3. any of the places to which the slide of a trombone is shifted to produce changes in pitch.

15. Finance. a commitment to buy or sell securities.

    He took a large position in defense stocks.

16. Classical Prosody. the situation of a short vowel before two or more consonants or their equivalent, making the syllable metrically long.

---

verb (used with object)

• positions,
  present (3rd person singular)
• positioned,
  past participle,  past
• positioning
  present participle

1. to put in a particular or appropriate position; place.

   Synonyms:

   situate

2. to determine the position of; locate.

position British  

/ pəˈzɪʃən /

noun

1. the place, situation, or location of a person or thing

   he took up a position to the rear

2. the appropriate or customary location

   the telescope is in position for use

3. the arrangement or disposition of the body or a part of the body

   the corpse was found in a sitting position

4. the manner in which a person or thing is placed; arrangement

5. military an area or point occupied for tactical reasons

6. mental attitude; point of view; stand

   what's your position on this issue?

7. social status or standing, esp high social standing

8. a post of employment; job

9. the act of positing a fact or viewpoint

10. something posited, such as an idea, proposition, etc

11. sport the part of a field or playing area where a player is placed or where he generally operates

12. music

    1. the vertical spacing or layout of the written notes in a chord. Chords arranged with the three upper voices close together are in close position . Chords whose notes are evenly or widely distributed are in open position See also root position

    2. one of the points on the fingerboard of a stringed instrument, determining where a string is to be stopped

13. 1. the situation in which a short vowel may be regarded as long, that is, when it occurs before two or more consonants

    2. (of a consonant, either on its own or in combination with other consonants, such as x in Latin) to cause a short vowel to become metrically long when placed after it

14. finance the market commitment of a dealer in securities, currencies, or commodities

    a long position

    a short position

15. (foll by an infinitive) able (to)

    I'm not in a position to reveal these figures

---

verb

1. to put in the proper or appropriate place; locate

2. sport to place (oneself or another player) in a particular part of the field or playing area

3. to put (someone or something) in a position (esp in relation to others) that confers a strategic advantage: he's trying to position himself for a leadership bid

4. marketing to promote (a product or service) by tailoring it to the needs of a specific market or by clearly differentiating it from its competitors (e.g. in terms of price or quality)

5. rare to locate or ascertain the position of

Synonym Usage

Position, job, place, situation refer to a post of employment. Position is any employment, though usually above manual labor: a position as clerk. Job is colloquial for position, and applies to any work from lowest to highest in an organization: a job as cook, as manager. Place and situation are both mainly used today in reference to a position that is desired or being applied for; situation is the general word in the business world: Situations Wanted; place is used rather of domestic employment: He is looking for a place as a gardener. Position, posture, attitude, pose refer to an arrangement or disposal of the body or its parts. Position is the general word for the arrangement of the body: in a reclining position. Posture is usually an assumed arrangement of the body, especially when standing: a relaxed posture. Attitude is often a posture assumed for imitative effect or the like, but may be one adopted for a purpose (as that of a fencer or a tightrope walker): an attitude of prayer. A pose is an attitude assumed, in most cases, for artistic effect: an attractive pose.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• misposition
  verb (used with object)
• positional
  adjective
• positionless
  adjective
• well-positioned
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• positions
  plural

Participles

• positioning
  present
• positioned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• position
  simple
• positions
  simple
• have positioned
  perfect
• has positioned
  perfect
• am positioning
  progressive
• are positioning
  progressive
• is positioning
  progressive
• have been positioning
  perfect progressive
• has been positioning
  perfect progressive

Past

• positioned
  simple
• had positioned
  perfect
• was positioning
  progressive
• were positioning
  progressive
• had been positioning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will position
  simple
• will have positioned
  perfect
• will be positioning
  progressive
• will have been positioning
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of position

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English posicioun “a positing” (from Anglo-French ), from Latin positiōn- (stem of positiō ) “a placing, etc.” See posit, -ion

Explanation

A position is the point where something is located, as on a map, or the posture it's arranged in, such as an "upright position." Position has many meanings. As a noun it can be a job or post in an organization (an "open position" is a job opening); the role assigned to the individual player of a team sport (guard, forward, and center are basketball positions); a view or perspective on a particular issue; or the place an item occupies on a list or sequence (in racing, "pole position" is first, on the inside). As a verb it can mean lay, place, pose, or set.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

position positions positioned positioning

To hammer out a joint position, he will hold talks with Austria's Chancellor Christian Stocker and prime ministers Mette Frederiksen of Denmark and Petteri Orpo of Finland.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

However, Schultze said that Meta’s position as a “Magnificent Seven” company means that automated index inflows likely have a bigger influence on the stock than headline-driven developments.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026

He argues that EU membership would strengthen Iceland's security and trade position, and shield it from much bigger powers.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

More than 3 billion people will be in position to catch at least part of it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

He’s risen from his kneeling position; we’re squaring off against each other in his small garret room.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

Hugging Face positions itself as a platform for AI developers.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

First, they continue to prize ideology and record over legacy names—and clearly have real concerns about Darline Graham’s positions and experience.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

His teams have often relied on forwards changing positions, dropping towards the ball and then attacking the space created when opponents are drawn out.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

He positions himself as a guy who wants to have a good time and who throws tentpole pop-culture events.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026

They strain, switch positions, team up, push and pull with all their might.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

Owens has successfully positioned herself as a journalist, an investigator, someone who digs deep and asks the hard questions, Spencer said.

From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026

Defenders wait on the ball, the two narrow holding midfielders are positioned nearby and the speed at which De Zerbi's side could speed up play is worked on.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

Cam Lampkin intercepted and broke up passes during training camp and appeared positioned for a shot at moving from the practice squad to the roster.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

The company’s progress on expanding its robotaxi network has been slower than some investors had expected, in part due to what Tesla CEO Elon Musk has positioned as a focus on safety.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026

As Anh had nervously inspected the windows to establish the best source of light, he’d mounted her expensive, brand-new Nikon to the tripod and positioned it on the edge of the parquet floor.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai

An abrupt shift in positioning could even force a so-called short squeeze, in which those who have bet on bond prices falling are forced to buy them back, pushing prices up even higher, Flight said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

Flight also looked at positioning across trend-following funds.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026

OpenAI’s enterprise ambitions are stretching to ad teams, and the company is hiring a San Francisco-based head of ads enterprise marketing to shape that positioning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

The speech sent a message that Carney was positioning himself "as an international leader with a different, credible vision," Tellier said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

Sorrento stepped forward into it, positioning himself directly opposite us, just a few dozen yards away, on the other side of the shield.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Related Words

• area
• environment
• location
• point
• post
• seat
• situation
• spot
• stand