juxtaposition

in a sentence

I reached up and kissed him and it was very, very real, despite the quite surreal juxtaposition of colors in the night sky.  (source) Ellen Hopkins, Crank, 2004

...he produces a letter somewhat similar to the one in question, opens it, pretends to read it, and then places it in close juxtaposition to the other.  (source) Edgar Allan Poe, The Purloined Letter, 1850

Last night had been a surreal juxtaposition, jumping from a dreamscape of steam and candles and Barry White, and into a nightmare straight from a zombie apocalypse—a darkened lobby lit by headlamps, screaming and cursing, guns being waved around while a ragged, dirty gang of humans pressed against a glass wall, banging, begging to get inside.†  (source) Matthew Mather, Cyberstorm, 2013

The juxtaposition is jarring: Religious institutions remain a positive force in people's lives, but in a part of the country slammed by the decline of manufacturing, joblessness, addiction, and broken homes, church attendance has fallen off.†  (source) J. D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy, 2016

The screen cuts to another photo of me juxtaposed with Amazing Amy.†  (source) Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl, 2012

When we don't have a story we make one up—that's why the juxtapositions of film editing work.†  (source) Adam Gopnik, Can Science Explain Why We Tell Stories?, 2012

Juxtaposing those stories with the one of my weekend dates cheapened everything about them.†  (source) Kiera Cass, The Heir, 2015

He didn't understand why the Times would take a ball game off the sports page and juxtapose it with news of such ominous consequence.†  (source) Don DeLillo, Underworld, 1997

Only her gaze was sharp, and the juxtaposition conjured images of a multilayered Renoir portrait...veiled but distinct, with a boldness that somehow retained its shroud of mystery.†  (source) Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, 2003

The dirty feeling of being an agent for a foreign power, juxtaposed with the thrill of fooling a whole legion of government spooks.†  (source) Tom Clancy, The Hunt for Red October, 1984

The loveliest scenes, he found, were comprised of the simplest, most natural juxtapositions of native plants.†  (source) Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City, 2003

And almost casually, with a confidence that stood in surprising and unreasonable juxtaposition to his tiny size, Owen Meany told me that he was sure my father was alive, that he was sure my father knew he was my father, and that God knew who my father was; even if my father never came forth to identify himself, Owen told me, God would identify him for me.†  (source) John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany, 1989

The Devonian fish, the juxtaposed thumb, the fontanel, technology—click click, click click ...†  (source) John Gardner, Grendel, 1971