Word of the Day

: May 28, 2010

juxtapose

verb JUK-stuh-pohz

What It Means

: to place side by side

juxtapose in Context

"His expansive narrative poems juxtapose themes of melancholy and loss with a sense of elation and pure joy…." (Daina Savage, Sunday News [Lancaster, Pennsylvania], April 4, 2010)

Did You Know?

A back-formation is a word that has come about through the removal of a prefix or a suffix from a longer word. Etymologists think "juxtapose" is a back-formation that was created when people trimmed down the noun "juxtaposition." Historical evidence supports the idea: "juxtaposition" was showing up in English documents as early as 1654, but "juxtapose" didn't appear until 1851. "Juxtaposition" is itself thought to be a combination of Latin "juxta," meaning "near," and English "position."