foreposition

foreposition

English

Alternative forms

• fore-position

Etymology

From fore- +‎ position.

Noun

foreposition (plural not attested)

1. Position ahead of or in front of; forward position.
   • 1917, Richard Thayer Holbrook, Living French:

     In scientific language we should find more adjectives in the after-position than in the fore-position; in a novel, a play, or in everyday speech, adjectives in the fore-position abound. Scientific language is less emotional than is everyday speech.

   • 1920, Automobile Engineering: A General Reference Work:

     From the oil tank the pump forces the oil through the sight feed on the dash, from which it is led into the steam line to the engine. In the oil pump, Fig. 53, the plunger A is set in its extreme foreposition, so that the end will just come to the outlet.

   • 1973, Wilhelm Wundt, The Language of Gestures:

     One more fact is crucial for this latter interpretation — gestural communication uses the fore-position of the predicate only in the case where this predicate contains both a verb and an object which can then be considered the subject of the sentence. It is not practical with pure verbal predicates.

   • 2010, Edward Maurer, The Prodigal Planet:

     All these questions and more rotated into the fore-position in Eof's mind one after another, seeking an answer, but moving on unfulfilled.

Verb

foreposition (third-person singular simple present forepositions, present participle forepositioning, simple past and past participle forepositioned)

1. (transitive) To position at the front.