position

See also: Position

English

Etymology

From Middle English posicioun, from Old French posicion, from Latin positiō (“a putting, position”), from positus (“placed, situated”), past participle of pōnō (“to place”); see ponent. Compare apposition, composition, deposition; see pose.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, General American, Australia) IPA(key): /pəˈzɪʃ.ən/, [pəˈzɪʃ.n̩]
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (New Zealand) IPA(key): /pəˈzəʃ.ən/, [pəˈzəʃ.n̩]
  • Rhymes: -ɪʃən
  • Hyphenation (UK): po‧si‧tion, pos‧i‧tion, (US, Indic): po‧si‧tion

Noun

position (plural positions)

  1. A place or location.
    Synonym: (obsolete) stead
    • 1960 December, “Talking of Trains: Recording Electric Operation”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 707:
      Train positions and speeds were established by a track magnet at each milepost, which produced a suitable mark on the punched recording tape whenever a train passed.
  2. A post of employment; a job.
  3. A status or rank.
    Chief of Staff is the second-highest position in the army.
  4. An opinion, stand, or stance.
    My position on this issue is unchanged.
    • 1643, John Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce:
      The cause therfore of divorce expres’t in the position cannot but agree with that describ’d in the best and equalest sense of Moses Law.
  5. A posture.
    Stand in this position, with your arms at your side.
  7. (figurative) A situation suitable to perform some action.
    The school is not in a position to provide day-care after 4:00 pm.
  8. (team sports) A place on the playing field, together with a set of duties, assigned to a player.
    Stop running all over the field and play your position!
  9. (finance) An amount of securities, commodities, or other financial instruments held by a person, firm, or institution.
    long position
    naked position
    • 2011, Brian Dolan, Currency Trading For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 253:
      For example, at 50:1 leverage, if you're holding a $100,000 position in USD/CHF, you'll need to have at least $2,000 of available margin to hold the position ([$100,000 ÷ 100] × 0.50 = $500).
  10. (finance) A commitment, or a group of commitments, such as options or futures, to buy or sell a given amount of financial instruments, such as securities, currencies or commodities, for a given price.
  11. (arithmetic) A method of solving a problem by one or two suppositions; also called the rule of trial and error.
  12. (chess) The full state of a chess game at any given turn.
    • 1953 May, Colonel A. S. Penniston, “Reader's Forum”, in Chess Review:
      The following problem-like position occurred in an over-the-board game at a base in Korea:
  13. (poker) The order in which players are seated around the table.
  14. (electronics) A pin; a connector.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Prefixed forms
Suffixed forms
Compound words and expressions

Translations

post of employment
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

position (third-person singular simple present positions, present participle positioning, simple past and past participle positioned)

  1. To put into place.
    Troponym: pre-position
    • 2012 June 26, Simon Bowers, “Tax crackdowns threaten Channel Islands' haven status”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 October 2026:
      While other small nations with large banking sectors, such as Iceland and Ireland, have been undone by their reckless lending practices, the debt-free Channel Islands have always positioned themselves as dependable repositories of riches.

Synonyms

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

Danish

Etymology

Via French position, from Latin positiō

Noun

position c (singular definite positionen, plural indefinite positioner)

  1. a place, a location, a position.
  2. a position, opinion
    Synonym: holdning
  3. position, status, rank
  4. (ballet) a posture
    Coordinate term: positur

Declension

Declension of position
common
gender 		singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative position positionen positioner positionerne
genitive positions positionens positioners positionernes

Derived terms

  • lytteposition
  • mellemposition
  • nøgleposition
  • positionel
  • positionere
  • positionsbestemmelse
  • positionslys
  • positionsspil
  • venteposition
  • ønskeposition

References

Finnish

Noun

position

  1. genitive singular of positio

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French posicion, borrowed from Latin positiōnem.

Pronunciation

Noun

position f (plural positions)

  1. position

Derived terms

Further reading

Swedish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pɔsɪˈɧuːn/
  • (Light /ɧ/ variant) IPA(key): [pɔsɪˈʂuːn]
    • Audio:(file)

Noun

position c

  1. a place, a location, a position. A description of where something is located with respect to the surroundings, e.g. the satellites of the GPS system.
  2. (team sports) a place on the playing field, together with a set of duties, assigned to a player.

Declension

Declension of position
nominative genitive
singular indefinite position positions
definite positionen positionens
plural indefinite positioner positioners
definite positionerna positionernas
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