position

[puh-zish-uhn]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR position ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

condition with reference to place; location; situation.

a place occupied or to be occupied; site: a fortified position.

the proper, appropriate, or usual place: out of position.

situation or condition, especially with relation to favorable or unfavorable circumstances: to be in an awkward position; to bargain from a position of strength.

status or standing: He has a position to maintain in the community.

high standing, as in society; important status: a person of wealth and position.

a post of employment: a position in a bank.

manner of being placed, disposed, or arranged: the relative position of the hands of a clock.

bodily posture or attitude: to be in a sitting position.

mental attitude; stand: one's position on a controversial topic.

the act of positing.

something that is posited.

Ballet. any of the five basic positions of the feet with which every step or movement begins and ends.Compare first position, second position, third position, fourth position, fifth position.

Music.

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.Compare close position, inversion(def 8a), open position, root position.
any of the places on the fingerboard of a stringed instrument where the fingers stop the strings to produce the variouspitches.
any of the places to which the slide of a trombone is shifted to produce changes in pitch.

Finance. a commitment to buy or sell securities: He took a large position in defense stocks.

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)

to put in a particular or appropriate position; place.

to determine the position of; locate.

Nearby words

Origin of position

1325–75; Middle English posicioun a positing (< Anglo-French) < Latin positiōn- (stem of positiō) a placing, etc. See posit, -ion

SYNONYMS FOR position

2. station, locality, spot. 5. rank. 7. 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. 8. placement, disposition, array, arrangement. 9. 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. 12. proposition, hypothesis, postulate, thesis; dictum, assertion, predication, contention; doctrine, principle. 17. situate.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR position ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formspo·si·tion·al, adjectivepo·si·tion·less, adjectivemis·po·si·tion, verb (used with object)well-po·si·tioned, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for position

You have to acknowledge your age and position in life, for me quite a lot of those emotionally fueled songs were hormone songs.
Belle & Sebastian Aren’t So Shy Anymore|James Joiner|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In a 2009 interview, Church apostle Dallin H. Oaks held that the Church “does not have a position” on that point.
Your Husband Is Definitely Gay: TLC’s Painful Portrait of Mormonism|Samantha Allen|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In his months in this position, he had not found a single example such as this.
ISIS, Boko Haram, and the Growing Role of Human Trafficking in 21st Century Terrorism|Louise I. Shelley|December 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Essentially, we are being left in a position where we are expected to just take agency promises at face value.
No, North Korea Didn’t Hack Sony|Marc Rogers|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST

This is, more or less, the position of political conservatives, who have come down firmly on the side of the fracking industry.
New York’s Conservative Fracking Ban|Jay Michaelson|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The position of collector of pleasures from every possible source?
De Officiis|Marcus Tullius Cicero
Frontenac defines his position and raises a note of alarm in his very first despatch to the minister for the colonies.
Count Frontenac|William Dawson LeSueur
The position of those who remained was regulated in a series of decrees, adverse to the system, but favourable to the inmate.
Lectures on the French Revolution|John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton
The position was an awkward one, and Winthrope weighed thirty or forty pounds more than Miss Leslie.
Into the Primitive|Robert Ames Bennet
Here, then, is the position of Mr. Lincoln set forth with deliberation and care.
History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2 (of 2)|George Washington Williams

British Dictionary definitions for position

position

noun

the place, situation, or location of a person or thinghe took up a position to the rear

the appropriate or customary locationthe telescope is in position for use

the arrangement or disposition of the body or a part of the bodythe corpse was found in a sitting position

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

military an area or point occupied for tactical reasons

mental attitude; point of view; standwhat's your position on this issue?

social status or standing, esp high social standing

a post of employment; job

the act of positing a fact or viewpoint

something posited, such as an idea, proposition, etc

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

music

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 positionSee also root position
one of the points on the fingerboard of a stringed instrument, determining where a string is to be stopped

(in classical prosody)

the situation in which a short vowel may be regarded as long, that is, when it occurs before two or more consonants
make position(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

finance the market commitment of a dealer in securities, currencies, or commoditiesa long position; a short position

in a position (foll by an infinitive) able (to)I'm not in a position to reveal these figures

verb (tr)

to put in the proper or appropriate place; locate

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

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

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)

rare to locate or ascertain the position of

Derived Formspositional, adjective

Word Origin for position

C15: from Late Latin positiō a positioning, affirmation, from pōnere to place, lay down

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 position

position

late 14c., as a term in logic and philosophy, from Old French posicion "position, supposition" (Modern French position), from Latin positionem (nominative positio) "act or fact of placing, situation, position, affirmation," noun of state from past participle stem of ponere "put, place," from PIE *po-s(i)nere, from *apo- "off, away" (see apo-) + *sinere "to leave, let" (see site).

Meaning "proper place occupied by a person or thing" is from 1540s. Meaning "manner in which some physical thing is arranged or posed" first recorded 1703; specifically in reference to dance steps, 1778, sexual intercourse, 1883. Meaning "official station, employment" is from 1890.

position

1670s, "to assume a position (intransitive), from position (n.). Transitive sense of "to put in a particular position" is recorded from 1817. Related: Positioned; positioning.

Medicine definitions for position

position

[pə-zĭsh′ən]

n.

A place occupied.

A bodily attitude or posture, especially a posture assumed by a patient to facilitate the performance of diagnostic, surgical, or therapeutic procedures.

The relation of an arbitrarily chosen portion of the fetus to the right or left side of the mother.

Related formsposition v.po•si′tion•al adj.

position

noun

verb (used with object)

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Nearby words

Origin of position

Examples from the Web for position

position

noun

verb (tr)

Word Origin for position

position

position

position

n.