observation

English

Etymology

From Middle English observacion, borrowed from Middle French observacion. Also a borrowing from French observation and a learned borrowing from Latin observātiō(n-).

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌɒbzəˈveɪʃ(ə)n/
  • (General American) enPR: ŏb'zər-vāʹshən, -vāshʹn, IPA(key): /ˌɑbzɚˈveɪʃən/, /-ˈveɪʃn̩/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪʃən
  • Hyphenation: ob‧ser‧va‧tion

Noun

observation (countable and uncountable, plural observations)

  1. The act of observing, and the fact of being observed.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:
      But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, […] . We began to tell her about Mohair and the cotillon, and of our point of observation from the Florentine galleried porch, and she insisted she would join us there.
    • 2012 March-April, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 146:
      The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.
  2. The act of noting and recording some event; or the record of such noting.
  3. A remark or comment.
    • Shakespeare
      That's a foolish observation.
    • Alexander Pope
      To observations which ourselves we make / We grow more partial for the observer's sake.
  4. A judgement based on observing.
  5. Performance of what is prescribed; adherence in practice; observance.
    • Jeremy Taylor
      We are to procure dispensation or leave to omit the observation of it in such circumstances.
  6. A regime under which a subject is routinely observed.
  7. Philosophically as: the phenomenal presence of human being existence.

Derived terms

Translations
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Translations to be checked

See also

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin observātiō. Synchronically analysable as observer +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ɔp.sɛʁ.va.sjɔ̃/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

observation f (plural observations)

  1. observation

Further reading

Interlingua

Noun

observation (plural observationes)

  1. observation (something that has been observed)
  2. observation (act or process of observing)
  3. observation (regime under which a subject is routinely observed)
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