• soo-per-JAY-sunt • adjective
: lying above or upon : overlying
[Ro] : de deasupra; aflat deasupra
Example sentence:
“Foreign states enjoy the right of overflight in the airspace superjacent to a coastal state’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone…”
Satele străine se bucură de dreptul la zbor în spaţiul aerian aflat deasupra zonei economice exclusive la o distanţă de 200 mile marine de la coastele statului …
(James C. Hsiung, The New York Times, April 14, 2001)
You’re probably familiar with adjacent, and if you guessed that it’s a relative of superjacent, you’re right. Both derive from the Latin verb jacere, meaning to lie. Adjacent, which is both the more popular and the earlier word (it first appeared in print in the 15th century, while superjacent turned up in 1610), comes from jacere and the prefix ad-, meaning near. Superjacent, on the other hand, was formed by combining jacere with the prefix super-, meaning over, above, or on top of. Descendants of jacere are also available for other possible configurations — subjacent means lying below, and circumjacent means lying near on all sides or surrounding.
