OBSERVATION • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Observation

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/ˌɑbzərvˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Observation n.

1.

The act or the faculty of observing or taking notice; the act of seeing, or of fixing the mind upon, anything. "My observation, which very seldom lies."

2.

The result of an act, or of acts, of observing; view; reflection; conclusion; judgment. "In matters of human prudence, we shall find the greatest advantage in making wise observations on our conduct."

3.

Hence: An expression of an opinion or judgment upon what one has observed; a remark. "That's a foolish observation." "To observations which ourselves we make We grow more partial for the observer's sake."

4.

Performance of what is prescribed; adherence in practice; observance. (Obs.) "We are to procure dispensation or leave to omit the observation of it in such circumstances."

5.

(Science)

(a)

The act of recognizing and noting some fact or occurrence in nature, as an aurora, a corona, or the structure of an animal.

(b)

Specifically, the act of measuring, with suitable instruments, some magnitude, as the time of an occultation, with a clock; the right ascension of a star, with a transit instrument and clock; the sun's altitude, or the distance of the moon from a star, with a sextant; the temperature, with a thermometer, etc.

(c)

The information so acquired; as, to record one's observations carefully. Note: When a phenomenon is scrutinized as it occurs in nature, the act is termed an observation. When the conditions under which the phenomenon occurs are artificial, or arranged beforehand by the observer, the process is called an experiment. Experiment includes observation.

To take an observation (Naut.), to ascertain the altitude of a heavenly body, with a view to fixing a vessel's position at sea.

Synonyms: Observance; notice; attention; remark; comment; note. See Observance.

See images of 'Observation'

Etymology of 'Observation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Observation" Quotes from Famous Books

... Hill. He thought, relieved, "She is the embodiment of common sense." At the end of the vista of white tables the restaurant opened out to the left. In a far corner they were comfortably secure from observation. They sat down. A waiter beamed his flatteries upon them. G.J. was serenely aware of his own skilled faculty for ordering a dinner. He looked over the menu card at Christine. Nobody could possibly tell that she was a professed enemy of society. "These French ...

— The Pretty Lady • Arnold E. Bennett

... cultivated, was he devoid of an eye for the curious in nature. On directing his attention, one morning, to a well-marked impression of lepidodendron, which delicately fretted with its lozenge-shaped network one of the planes of the stone before me, he began to describe, with a minuteness of observation not common among working men, certain strange forms which had attracted his notice when employed among the grey flagstones of Forfarshire. I long after recognised in his description that strange crustacean of the Middle Old Red Sandstone of Scotland, the Pterygotus—an organism which was ...

— My Schools and Schoolmasters - or The Story of my Education. • Hugh Miller

... reach of the surgeons already landed." Dr. Munson was the adjutant of Colonel Pope, chief surgeon of the Fifth Army-Corps, and he probably knew a good deal more about the state of affairs at Siboney after the battle of Guasimas than Dr. Appel did. Be that, however, as it may; I know from my own observation and experience that there was a lack of medical and hospital supplies at Siboney, not only when we arrived there, but for weeks afterward. Dr. Frank Donaldson, surgeon of the Rough Riders, in a letter from Siboney, published in the Philadelphia "Medical ...

— Campaigning in Cuba • George Kennan

... the regulations before and after 1864, let us consider the differences we may ascertain by examining the balance sheets. Unfortunately, the exactness of our observation is lessened on account of the very diversity of the field ...

— A Brief History of Panics • Clement Juglar

... Though Majendie was, as he expressed it, "up to her designs upon his unhappy soul," he remained unconscious of the part to be played by Mrs. Eliott and her circle in the scheme of his salvation. From his observation of the aristocracy of Thurston Square, it would never have occurred to him that they were people who could count, whichever way ...

— The Helpmate • May Sinclair

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