The Latin root word posit means “placed.” Although you may have found yourself in a difficult position in the past when seeing words with posit in them, hopefully this podcast will positively change that!
Scotty from Star Trek has unexpectedly beamed you on board the starship Enterprise, and Captain Kirk has posited or “placed” before you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Captain Kirk offers you the position of Chief Science Officer, or where you will be “placed” if you agree to join. You view this opportunity as such a positive thing that you have confidently “placed” it in writing, announcing to the world that you will be taking over Spock’s duties, who is on a seven-year leave to the planet Vulcan.
After having deposited or “placed” all your valuables for safe-keeping in a bank vault, you take off on your seven-year journey. You immediately take your post or spot where “placed” for duty. Captain Kirk is constantly asking you for advice about the Klingons and Romulans, the Federation’s primary opposition, or those enemies “placed” against them. You are able to make numerous shrewd suppositions, or guesses “placed” under those problems, as to what to do about those dastardly foes. Suppositions soon become workable propositions, or ideas “placed” forth to the crew to contend with those enemies.
One day, however, the greatest danger of all presents itself—an entire fleet of hostile Borg is now “placed” against or opposite the Enterprise and is about to blow everyone on board to smithereens. In order to avoid all the crew members undergoing decomposition, or their body parts being “placed” away from being together, you realize that the apposite suggestion or idea most suitably “placed” toward solving this dire situation is to make the ship’s shields invulnerable to enemy attack. You create a new composite material of three secret substances “placed” together, making it such that no enemy ship’s fire has any effect. To celebrate your amazing invention, the ship’s musician creates a composition in your honor, having “placed” together many different notes to sing your praises.
I am now pretty positive that you are “placed” in a pretty good position when it comes to the root word posit—and that’s no pie-in-the-sky supposition!
- posit: to “place” an idea before
- position: how you are “placed”
- positive: so sure and good that it can be “placed” in writing
- deposit: action when valuables are “placed” into a financial account
- post: spot where “placed” for duty
- opposition: state or condition of being “placed” against
- supposition: a guess “placed” under a problem
- proposition: a proposal “placed” forth to solve a problem
- opposite: “placed” against or towards
- decomposition: state or condition of being “placed” apart
- apposite: a suitable idea “placed” near a problem to solve it
- composite: of materials being “placed” together
- composition: musical piece in which many notes have been “placed” together