position: Meaning and Definition of

po•si•tion

Pronunciation: (pu-zish'un), [key]
— n.
  1. condition with reference to place; location; situation.
  2. a place occupied or to be occupied; site: a fortified position.
  3. the proper, appropriate, or usual place: out of position.
  4. situation or condition, esp. 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.
  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.
  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.
  13. any of the five basic positions of the feet with which every step or movement begins and ends. Cf.
    1. the arrangement of tones in a chord, esp. with regard to the location of the root tone in a triad or to the distance of the tones from each other. Cf.close position, inversion(def. 8a),open position, root position.
    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.
  14. a commitment to buy or sell securities: He took a large position in defense stocks.
  15. the situation of a short vowel before two or more consonants or their equivalent, making the syllable metrically long.
—v.t.
  1. to put in a particular or appropriate position; place.
  2. to determine the position of; locate.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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