Definition of "apposite"

Medical Topography would be the most apposite title, since it comprehends the principal objects of investigation; [...].

c. 1833–1856, Andrew Carrick, John Addington Symonds (editors), Medical Topography of Bristol, in Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association/Volume 2/3

Flora, however, received the remark as if it had been of a most apposite and agreeable nature; approvingly observing aloud that Mr. F's Aunt had a great deal of spirit.

1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, “Machinery in Motion”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, book the first (Poverty), page 197

Rough-neck is a capital word; it is more apposite and savory than the English navvy, and it is over-whelmingly more American.]

, H. L. Mencken, chapter 15, in The American Language, 2nd edition, New York: Alfred A. Knopf

On the other hand, many of the happiest railway experiences are casual events—so much so that in many cases only the keen eye and apposite knowledge of the real enthusiast spots an item of more than passing interest.

1950 October, R. S. McNaught, “Joys of the Unexpected”, in Railway Magazine, page 689

Information on almost every aspect of London Transport's railways—and on the Southern Region's Waterloo & City line—is here contained, with many apposite and well-captioned illustrations, in 125 pages, all for the modest price of one guinea.

1963 April, “New Books: London's Underground (Third edition revised and enlarged). By H. F. Howson. Ian Allan. 21s.”, in Modern Railways, page 288

And so it is good to see the big society born again, resurrected in Cameron's Christmas message. The timing was apposite: as the prime minister pointed out, many of the most active volunteers are Christians.

2014 January 4, Danny Kruger, “The big society is not about picking litter: it is meant to be a challenge”, in The Guardian‎

As a new political year begins, those nine words seem more apposite than ever, and they snugly fit one defining fact of our national predicament: that the wreckage of Brexit is all around us but our politicians will still not acknowledge it.

2023 January 1, John Harris, “The wreckage of Brexit is all around us. How long can our politicians indulge in denial?”, in The Guardian‎

Or is that just the way art is now? The neo-Victorian craze is very apposite.

2023 October 11, Jonathan Jones, “Frieze London art fair review – a graveyard of creativity for tasteless one percenters”, in The Guardian‎

In other words, they are used to name, rather than to describe. They are apposite nouns and not adjectives.

1971, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, volume 34, University of London. School of Oriental and African Studies, page 262

If the shift in theatrical setting and the shift in dramaturgy are at all related, they are apposite developments, independent yet homologous signs of a changing political and cultural climate.

2000, David Skeele, “"All That Monarchs Do": The Obscured Stages of Authority in Pericles”, in Pericles: Critical Essays

Hugh gave the boy apples or other small apposites […] , but the child was too interested in the bishop to notice the gifts.

1901, Charles L. Marson, Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln‎