Rhetorical terms · AP English Language, SAT Reading and Writing, ACT Reading
Juxtaposition
Juxtaposition: Placing two ideas, images or details close together to highlight a contrast or an unexpected connection.
By the CollegePrepRoom editorial team · Updated · How we write and check these pages
What it means
Juxtaposition invites the reader to compare. A writer might place a description of luxury next to one of poverty, or a calm image next to a violent one, letting the contrast make the point without stating it.
Juxtaposition can work at any scale: within a sentence, between paragraphs, or across sections of a text.
Example
A news essay opens with the gleaming lobby of a new stadium, then cuts to the closed public pool two blocks away. The juxtaposition makes the case against the city's priorities without a direct statement.
On the exam
Juxtaposition is a useful choice to analyze in both AP Lang and AP Lit because it often carries a writer's implied argument or a story's tension.