Observation Meaning
/ˌɒbzəˈveɪʃn̩/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe act of observing, and the fact of being observed (see observance)
nounThe act of noting and recording some event; or the record of such noting.
Sentence Examples
Observation is a passive science, experimentation an active science.
Science is based on careful observation.
Most information was collected by direct observation of the animals' behaviour.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
At the crime scene, the detective's key ____ of the suspect's shoe print solved the case.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Under close ____, the researchers discovered that the birds exhibited complex social patterns.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English observacion, borrowed from Middle French observacion. Also a borrowing from French observation and a learned borrowing from Latin observātiō(n-). Morphologically observe + -ation.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 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:
"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."
— 2012 March-April, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 146:
"That's a foolish observation."
— 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]:
"To observations which ourselves we make / We grow more partial for the observer's sake."
— 1734, Alexander Pope, Of the Knowledge and Characters of Men:
"This hypothesis goes by many names, including group resistence, the threshold effect, and the gender paradox. Because the hypothesis holds such wide appeal, it is worth revisiting the logic behind it. The hypothesis is built on the factual observation that fewer females than males act antisocially."
— 2001 September 27, Terrie E. Moffitt, Avshalom Caspi, Michael Rutter, Phil A. Silva, Sex Differences in Antisocial Behaviour: Conduct Disorder, Delinquency, and Violence in the Dunedin Longitudinal Study, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 151:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
At the crime scene, the detective's key ____ of the suspect's shoe print solved the case.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Under close ____, the researchers discovered that the birds exhibited complex social patterns.