"Juxtapose" is a relatively common word. It's formal, serious, and academic.

Pick it when you want to emphasize how strange, exciting, creative, or startling it is when certain things are combined or placed side by side. Those things are generally very different from each other: juxtaposition implies a great deal of contrast, conflict, or tension.

Talk about people (or their creations) juxtaposing two different things:
   "The website juxtaposes people's 'before' and 'after' photos."
   "The song juxtaposes ants against elephants."
   "The exhibit juxtaposes everyday artifacts with priceless works of art."
   "The painting juxtaposes a delicate flower with a glowering dictator."
   "The director juxtaposed heavy, dark scenery and bright, ethereal costumes."

Juxtaposition is often done on purpose, but it can happen naturally, too: "Juxtaposed, the site's boasts of success and pleas for donations seemed sketchy."

Even though "juxtapose" is a common word, it's a bit fancy, maybe even stiff. If you can, pick the simple word "pair" instead. "The song pairs ants and elephants." "The painting pairs a delicate flower with a glowering dictator."

"I’m smacked with the smell of frying onions and adrak lehsan. The smell of home juxtaposed with the sweaty, breathless odor of desperation and the taste of rust in my mouth."
— Samira Ahmed, Internment, 2019

"You flutter your eyes and you toss your hair.
I have to say that it is kind of unfair...
So what game shall we play today?
How about the one where you don't get your way?
But even if you do, that's okay...
This has been fun, I suppose.
Although my feelings are all juxtaposed." 
— Jamie Cullum, "Get Your Way," 2005

"Zero dwells at the juxtaposition of quantum mechanics and relativity; zero lives where the two theories meet, and zero causes the two theories to clash."
— Charles Seife, Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, 2000

has this page helped you understand "juxtapose"?

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If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "juxtapose" without saying "to position side by side" or "to pair in order to invite comparisons and contrasts."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Something) is (funny, appealing, interesting, or startling) because it juxtaposes (one thing) with (some other very unexpected thing)."

Example 1: "Mark Twain's stories are funny because they juxtapose ridiculous behavior with matter-of-fact narration."

Example 2: "One key to Armstrong's appeal is the juxtaposition of this insider-speak with his everyman frame and beard, a bear of a man selling a bull of a market."
— Stephen Zeitchik, Washington Post, 24 July 2022

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

This month, our game is "Smorgasbord of Wordly Lore!"

Try a trivia question each day. It’ll have something to do with a food or a drink. You can play on hard mode by answering the question cold, or play on easy mode by highlighting the multiple choice options. To see the correct answer, scroll all the way down. Enjoy!

Try this one today: Although the story has been disputed and is probably inaccurate, many people believe that a Hindi word meaning "five" gave us the name of a type of party drink, one that requires five ingredients. What is the drink?

Highlight below to reveal the multiple choice options.…
A. punch
B. juice
C. sangria

review this word:

1. A near opposite of JUXTAPOSE could be

A. NIX.
B. HIDE.
C. ISOLATE.

2. In her biography of Charles Darwin, Deborah Heiligman described a "juxtaposition of [Darwin's] heart and mind," a _____ between his heart's desire to _____ and his mind's desire to develop his theory of evolution that "eliminated God's role in the process of creation."

A. pleasing unity .. undermine religion
B. troubling tension .. please his religious wife
C. constant switching .. observe the beauty of plants and animals

Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. B Answer to the game question: punch

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.