observation

UK/ˌɒbzəˈveɪʃn̩/US/ˌɑbzɚˈveɪʃn̩/

nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #2,952 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: observations

An observation is careful watching, or a remark about what was seen. Under observation, a shrewd observation, observation of the stars.

In hospital, under observation means being watched rather than treated, which is a decision in itself. In science it is one of the two ways of learning anything, the other being experiment.

Definitions of observation

1nounobservationCareful watching, or a remark about what was seen.B2
“Scientists learned about the birds through years of careful observation in the wild.”

observation is a watching.

Where it comes from

Latin observatio comes from observare, to watch over, from ob plus servare, to keep.

Latin
observatio
French
observation
Middle French
observacion
Middle English
observacion
English, today
observation

From Middle English observacion, borrowed from Middle French observacion. Also a borrowing from French observation and a Latin observatio. Morphologically observe + ation.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

observation in the wild

In living organisms, observation typically occurs through the senses.
Observation
The term observation may refer both to the process of observing and to the information recorded as a result of that process.
Observation
Surveillance aircraft or observation aircraft are aircraft used for aerial surveillance.
Surveillance aircraft
Because a tall structure is expensive to build and maintain for viewing alone, observation functions are very often combined with another use.
Observation tower
An observation balloon is a type of balloon that is employed as an aerial platform for gathering intelligence and spotting artillery.
Observation balloon

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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