non-prepositional

noun Grammar.

1. any member of a class of words found in many languages that are used before nouns, pronouns, or other substantives to form phrases functioning as modifiers of verbs, nouns, or adjectives, and that typically express a spatial, temporal, or other relationship, as in, on, by, to, since.

noun

1. a word or group of words used before a noun or pronoun to relate it grammatically or semantically to some other constituent of a sentenceAbbreviation: prep

n.late 14c., from Latin praepositionem (nominative praepositio) “a putting before, a prefixing,” noun of action from past participle stem of praeponere “put before,” from prae “before” (see pre-) + ponere “put, set, place” (see position (n.)). In grammatical use, a loan-translation of Greek prothesis, literally “a setting before.” A part of speech that indicates the relationship, often spatial, of one word to another. For example, “She paused at the gate”; “This tomato is ripe for picking”; and “They talked the matter over head to head.” Some common prepositions are at, by, for, from, in, into, on, to, and with.