conjunction
Pluralconjunctions
- 1The act of joining things together, or the condition of being joined.
The menu is a bold conjunction of Mexican spices with Korean barbecue.
The conjunction of the two small towns into one city took nearly ten years.
Similarunion, connection
Oppositeseparation
Note
Behind it is Latin coniūnctiō, "joining," from coniungere, "to join," and every other meaning of the word grows from that root. The phrase in conjunction with means simply together with: a vaccine given in conjunction with a booster. Used on its own, the noun often names a striking pairing, as in George Eliot's "fortuitous conjunction of atoms" in Middlemarch.
- 2A word that joins words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence, the choice of word showing how the joined parts relate in meaning.
The editor cut the conjunction and split the long sentence in two.
Words such as "although" and "unless" are conjunctions that introduce a dependent clause.
Note
Grammars sort these words by what they join. Coordinating conjunctions such as and, but, or and nor link parts of equal rank; subordinating ones such as because, whereas, although and so that attach a clause that leans on the main one. Picking the word is picking the relation between the parts: addition, contrast, cause or purpose.
- 3The occurrence of two or more things together, or their happening at the same time.
Researchers studied the conjunction of poverty and poor health in rural counties.
The market crash followed an unusual conjunction of rising rates and falling profits.
Similarcombination, coincidence, concurrence
Note
For John Stuart Mill, in A System of Logic (1843), phenomena are in conjunction whether they exist side by side or follow one another, so long as finding one lets us expect the other. Everyday use is looser and keeps only the meeting: an unusual conjunction of rising rates and falling profits is two things arriving together, whether or not one caused the other.
- 4A place where two or more things meet.
The town grew up at the conjunction of three old trade routes.
A stone marker stands at the conjunction of the three state lines.
Similarjunction, meeting, intersection, convergence
- 5An alignment of two bodies in the solar system in which they have the same longitude as seen from Earth.
Jupiter and Saturn will be in conjunction low in the western sky this week.
Astronomers calculated the dates of every planetary conjunction for the next century.
Oppositeopposition
Note
The usual construction is in conjunction: Jupiter and Saturn are in conjunction, or one planet is in conjunction with another. A planet can also line up with the Sun, and Mercury and Venus have two such moments, inferior conjunction as they pass between Earth and the Sun and superior conjunction on its far side. The opposite arrangement is opposition, with a planet on the far side of Earth from the Sun.
- 6An aspect in which two or more planets are close to one another.
The astrologer pointed to a conjunction of Saturn and the moon in her birth chart.
Some astrologers read a Jupiter–Saturn conjunction as the start of a new era.
Oppositeopposition
Note
In a birth chart the conjunction is the tightest of the aspects, the set angles between planets that astrologers read: the planets sit almost on top of one another and are taken to act as one, blending their influences for good or ill. The sky event resembles the astronomer's alignment; what astrology adds is the claim that it means something for a life or an era.
- 7A compound proposition formed by joining two or more propositions with the logical operator ∧ (and).
In the truth table, the conjunction P ∧ Q comes out true in only one row.
The program checks a conjunction of conditions: the user is logged in and has permission.
Oppositedisjunction
Note
Logic makes the joining strict: the whole is true only when every part is true, so a single false conjunct, as the parts are called, makes it false, and in a truth table for P ∧ Q only one row comes out true. Its partner is disjunction, built with or, which needs just one true part. Programmers meet the same idea as a chain of conditions joined by and.
Less common meaning
- 8Sexual intercourse.
The physician advised the couple to avoid conjunction until she had recovered.
Certaine Nations (and amongst others, the Mahometane) abhorre Conjunction with women great with childe.
1603, Michel de Montaigne, The EssayesSimilarintercourse, sex, copulation, coupling, union
Note
Older English could name sex through the plain idea of joining, and this use now survives only in old texts. John Florio's 1603 English Montaigne reports that certain nations abhor conjunction with women great with child. A modern reader meeting the bare word will think of joining in general, so it no longer works even as a euphemism.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of conjunction apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
From Old French conjonction, from Latin coniūnctiō ("joining"), from coniungere ("to join").