system of indexing in which the subject of a document is analysed into its constituent concepts by an indexer but the preferred terms so allocated are not combined until they are selected by a user at the search stage
e.g. when using post-coordinate indexing, a manual on bicycle repair might be assigned the three separate preferred terms
Someone searching for such a manual would compose a search statement such as (bicycles AND repairing AND instruction books). The document would also be retrieved by a search for (bicycles AND instruction books) or for any one or more of the preferred terms. Compare pre-coordinate indexing.