# superposition

CEFR C2 · Noun

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/superposition
Updated: 2026-09-28

## Definition

the ability of a neural network to represent more concepts than it has physical dimensions by overlapping them.

For teachers: the phenomenon in neural networks where more semantic features are represented than available vector dimensions by exploiting nearly orthogonal directions in high-dimensional space.

## Examples

- Quantum particles exist in a superposition of multiple states until measured.
- Mechanistic interpretability researchers discovered that transformers use superposition to compress thousands of rare concepts into few neurons.
- Because natural language features are sparse, linear superposition allows networks to store an overcomplete set of features while incurring minimal interference noise.

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