conjunction

(kən-jŭngk'shən)
n.

1. 1. The act of joining.
   2. The state of being joined.
2. A joint or simultaneous occurrence; concurrence: the conjunction of historical and economic forces that created a depression.
3. One resulting from or embodying a union; a combination: "He is, in fact, a remarkable conjunction of talents" (Jerry Adler).
4. (Abbr. conj.) Grammar.
   1. The part of speech that serves to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences.
   2. Any of the words belonging to this part of speech, such as and, but, as, and because.
5. Astronomy. The position of two celestial bodies on the celestial sphere when they have the same celestial longitude.
6. Logic.
   1. A compound proposition that has components joined by the word and or its symbol and is true only if both or all the components are true.
   2. The relationship between the components of a conjunction.

[Middle English coniunccioun, from Old French conjunction, conjuncion, from Latin coniūnctiō, coniūnctiōn-, a joining, conjunction (in grammatical sense, translation of Greek sundesmos, binding together, conjunction), from coniūnctus, past participle of coniungere, to join. See conjoin.]

conjunctional con·junc'tion·al adj.
conjunctionally con·junc'tion·al·ly adv.

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A conjunction is a word such as and, because, but, for, if, or, and when which is used to connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. Coordinating conjunctions join like with like: The room is large and bright / She would have to go back and look for it / You can come in but you cannot stay long / Would you like tea or coffee?. Subordinating conjunctions join a subordinate clause to a main clause: I shan't go if you won't come with me / As we're early let's have a drink / I was late because I missed the train. Pairs of conjunctions such as either...or...and neither...nor...are called correlative conjunctions: He must be either drunk or mad / I neither know nor care. Some conjunctions are much more common in British English than in American English; these are whilst

(I would like to thank many friends and colleagues for their encouragement whilst I was writing this book—R. Jackson, 1981)

, now

(Now the tourist season's starting it's better to have someone there, like a caretaker—Iris Murdoch, 1980)

, and nor

(Nobody in the dying Constituent Assembly believed it, and nor did the royal family—W. Doyle, 2003)

, and but nor

(I don't need any cosseting but nor am I too independent—Saga Magazine, 2004.

The more important conjunctions are treated in separate articles: see and, because, but, for, etc.

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noun

The state of being associated: affiliation, alliance, association, combination, connection, cooperation, partnership. See near/far/distance.

n

Definition: combination
Antonyms: detachment, disconnection, division, separation

The conjunction of two propositions, p, q is the proposition p & q. It is true if, and only if, each of p, q is true. The medievals were interested in whether there exist different kinds of conjunction subject to a weaker condition, since while a book is a conjunction of the assertions it contains, it seems harsh to say that it is wholly false if one of them is false. See also truth-function.

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A word that joins words or groups of words. There are three kinds of conjunctions: coordinating, correlative, and subordinating. Coordinating conjunctions include and, but, or, not, yet, for, and so. Correlative conjunctions include the words in the pairs either/or, both/and, and neither/nor. Subordinating conjunctions begin subordinate clauses (see subordination) and join them to the rest of the sentence: “She didn't learn the real reason until she left the valley.”

For a list of words related to conjunction, see:

• Celestial Phenomena and Points - conjunction: occasion when two or more celestial bodies line up at same longitude on celestial sphere
• Parts of Speech - conjunction: word connecting words or word groups

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See words rhyming with "conjunctional."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Conjunction.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - konjunktion, sammentræf

idioms:

• in conjunction with    sammen med

Nederlands (Dutch)
conjunctie, voegwoord, vereniging, samenloop van omstandigheden

Français (French)
n. - concours, (Astron, Ling) conjonction

idioms:

• in conjunction with    conjointement avec

Deutsch (German)
n. - Konjunktion, Bindewort, Verbindung

idioms:

• in conjunction with    in Verbindung mit

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (γραμμ.) σύνδεσμος, σύνδεση, σύνδεσμος, συνάφεια, συζυγία, (αστρον.) σύνοδος

idioms:

• in conjunction with    από κοινού με

Italiano (Italian)
congiunzione

idioms:

• in conjunction with    in congiunzione con

Português (Portuguese)
n. - conjunção (f), associação (f)

idioms:

• in conjunction with    junto com

Русский (Russian)
союз

idioms:

• in conjunction with    совместно с

Español (Spanish)
n. - conjunción

idioms:

• in conjunction with    conjuntamente con, en conjunción con

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - förening, förbindelse, sammanträffande, konjunktion (astron. mm)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
连接词, 关联, 联合

idioms:

• in conjunction with    与...协力

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 連接詞, 關聯, 聯合

idioms:

• in conjunction with    與...協力

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 연결, 접속사, 동시발생

idioms:

• in conjunction with    ~와 함께, 와 관련하여

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 結合, 合同, 接続詞, 同時発生

idioms:

• in conjunction with    …とともに
• subordinating conjunction    従位接続詞

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ارتباط, اقتران, اتحاد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מילת-חיבור, צירוף‬

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