pre-position

See also: preposition

English

Alternative forms

• preposition (sometimes proscribed)

Etymology

From pre- +‎ position.

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To position (something) ahead of time. (The objects thus positioned are usually supplies, tools, instruments, weapons, or troops.)

   Hypernym: position

   She pre-positioned the surgical instruments in trays on a numbered rack.

   The officers deemed it necessary to pre-position at least three battalions in case of a breakout.

Usage notes

• Some stylesheets hold the hyphen to be mandatory in this term to avoid preventable homography with preposition. In this regard compare other similar pairs such as re-create/recreate, re-treat/retreat, and un-ionized/unionized.
• Even when this advice is strictly adhered to, such hyphens are forgone where they are unnecessary for clarity (for example, in pretreat and pretreatment).