English
observation
Etymology

From Middle English observacion, borrowed from Middle French observacion.

Morphologically observe + -ation

Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˌɒbzəˈveɪʃ(ə)n/
  • (General American) enPR: ŏb'zər-vāʹshən, -vāshʹn, IPA: /ˌɑbzɚˈveɪʃən/, /-ˈveɪʃn̩/
Noun

observation

  1. The act of observing, and the fact of being observed (see observance)
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
      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.
  2. The act of noting and recording some event; or the record of such noting.
  3. A remark or comment.
    • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene vi]:
      That's a foolish observation.
    • 1734, Alexander Pope, Of the Knowledge and Characters of Men:
      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.
    • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC ↗:
      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.
  8. (stochastics) A realization of a random variable.
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