observation

CEFRB1

/ˌɒbzəˈveɪʃn̩/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
noun
Something noticed by watching or examining carefully.
02
noun
Extra detail
A remark or comment.

Examples

Most information was collected by direct observation of the animals' behaviour.
Observation is a passive science, experimentation an active science.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

The act of observing, and the fact of being observed (see observance)
The act of noting and recording some event; or the record of such noting.
A judgement based on observing.

More examples

In context

Science is based on careful observation.
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.
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.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

At the crime scene, the detective's key blank of the suspect's shoe print solved the case.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

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

Keep observation

Looking a word up is the easy part. LexUp remembers which words you have met and brings them back at the point you were about to forget them.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Origin

noun

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.

Deep Dive

noun

More examples

Quick test

At the crime scene, the detective's key blank— of the suspect's shoe print solved the case.

Nearby

Origin

noun

At the crime scene, the detective's key blank of the suspect's shoe print solved the case.