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conjunction

Syllabification: (con·junc·tion)
Pronunciation: /kənˈjəNGkSHən/

Translate conjunction | into German | into Italian
Definition of conjunction

noun

  • 1the action or an instance of two or more events or things occurring at the same point in time or space:a conjunction of favorable political and economic circumstances he postulated that the Americas were formed by the conjunction of floating islands
  • Astronomy & Astrology an alignment of two planets or other celestial objects so that they appear to be in the same, or nearly the same, place in the sky.
  • 2 Grammar a word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause (e.g., and, but, if).

Phrases

in conjunction

together:herbal medicine was used in conjunction with acupuncture and massage

Derivatives

conjunctional

Pronunciation: /-SHənl/

adjective

Origin:

late Middle English: via Old French from Latin conjunctio(n-), from the verb conjungere (see conjoin)

Grammar

A class of words that are used to join together words, phrases, or clauses. They fall into two groups.Coordinating conjunctionsThese link items that have equal status grammatically:uncomfortable but safe ice cream or frozen yogurt Helena arrived and they called room service. Subordinating conjunctionsIf the two items do not have equal status, then a subordinating conjunction is used. Most commonly this happens in complex sentences when a main clause is joined to a subordinate clause:

Businesses failbecausethey can't pay their bills.
main clausesubordinatingsubordinate
conjunctionclauses

conjunction in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of conjunction in the British & World English dictionary