{
  "id": "position.spatial",
  "term": "position",
  "sense": "spatial",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 12,
  "arena": "position",
  "domain": "everyday",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "a point where a thing is in space",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "space.extent",
      "points.location",
      "point-of-no-return.irreversible"
    ],
    "interaction": "the space is a region and a point is a place within that region, with an irreversible threshold beyond which the thing cannot persist",
    "novel_properties": [
      "spatial location",
      "irreversible positioning",
      "regional containment"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The GPS satellite constellation maintains exact orbital positions to ensure ground location accuracy within 5 meters.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "Mount Everest's summit remained at 8,848 meters above sea level despite tectonic shifts pushing it northeast by 4 cm yearly.",
      "domain": "geology"
    },
    {
      "text": "The International Space Station held position at 400 km altitude until 2024, requiring regular reboosts to counter atmospheric drag.",
      "domain": "aerospace"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "location.spatial",
      "note": "is-a",
      "type": "is-a"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [
    "balance.state",
    "calendar.tool",
    "equilibrium.state",
    "format.layout",
    "look.visual",
    "moderation.central",
    "sat.posture",
    "step.movement",
    "third.ordinal"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "position",
    "positioned",
    "positioning",
    "positions"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "factual",
      "note": "definition updated to account for constitutive role of irreversible threshold in defining spatial position as a stable, non-reversible state within a region"
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-position.spatial"
}