- place
- place n Place, position, location, situation, site, spot, station are comparable when they mean the point or portion of space occupied by or chosen for a thing.Place, the most general of these terms, carries as its basic implication the idea of extension in space, though often with no clear connotation of how great or how small that extent is; in some use it comes very close to space in meaning{
he passed the flaming bounds of Place and Time— Gray
}but it more usually implies a limited, though not always clearly defined, extent of space{the place where we shall meet
}{the place where they were born
}{the cardplayers changed their places several times during the evening
}Position is capable of abstract as well as concrete use and therefore may be employed whether the thing referred to is immaterial or material, ideal or actual, or invisible or visible; it usually also implies place in relation to something in particular{a point has definite position but no extent in space
}{an instrument to find the position of an invisible target
}{the 7th regiment took up its position on the left flank
}{the blots of shade and flakes of light upon the countenances of the group changed shape and position endlessly— Hardy
}{she dropped forks into their appointed positions with disdain— Bennett
}Location is used in a concrete sense implying a fixed but not necessarily a clearly definite place for something or sometimes a person; it may refer to the place as found or as usable as well as to the place actually occupied by a thing{this is a most desirable location for your factory
}{he knows the location of every house in the town built before 1800
}{they visited Windsor. Mr. Beck said that if he had such a location he should always live there— Besant & Rice
}Situation may differ from location in being more specific about the character of the surroundings{this is the best situation for the house, for the land is high and dry
}{the situation of this camp was chosen with respect to its healthfulness and its nearness to the city
}{not a place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is remote from all the wrangling world— Paine
}Site, though close to situation in many ways, carries a clearer reference to the land on which something specific (as a building, a group of buildings, or a town) is built{every ruined village on the road stands on the site of an ancient city— J. L. Stephens
}{you may derive amusement from the historians when they ... explain how Oxford and Cambridge . . . came to be chosen for sites—Quiller-Couch
}{the site for the factory has been well selected
}{the hill, with its view of the lake, affords excellent sites for summer cottages
}Spot, only in an extended sense, implies a particular place, clearly defined in extent, which may be occupied or occupiable by a person or thing or may be the scene of an occurrence or activity; the word carries a stronger implication of restricted space than of its particular use{it is one of the pleasantest spots in the Adirondacks
}{we have found just the spot for the picnic
}{he said he wouldn't move from the spot
}{the spot where the corpse was found
}{there was one spot in Rome which was calm amid all tumults— Farrar
}Station implies the place where a person or sometimes a thing stands or is set to stand; it usually carries an implication of accepted responsibility (as in performance of duty or participation in a game){waiters at their stations in the dining room
}{every vessel in the squadron has its station
}{the crew went to their battle stations
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.