Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The act or faculty of observing.
- n. The fact of being observed.
- n. The act of noting and recording something, such as a phenomenon, with instruments.
- n. The result or record of such notation: a meteorological observation.
- n. A comment or remark. See Synonyms at comment.
- n. An inference or a judgment that is acquired from or based on observing.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act or fact of observing, and noting or fixing in the mind; a seeing and noting; notice: as, a fact that does not come under one's observation.
- n. The habit or power of observing and noting: as, a man of great observation.
- n. An act of scientific observing; an accurate remarking (often with measurement) of a fact directly presented to the senses, together with the conditions under which it is presented: as, a meridian observation, made by a navigator, in which he measures the sun's altitude when on the meridian for the purpose of calculating the latitude; the meteorological observations made by the Signal Service Bureau. In those sciences which describe and explain provinces of the universe as it exists, such as astronomy and systematic biology, observations are, for the most part, made under circumstances or conditions which may be selected, but cannot be produced at will. But in those sciences which analyze the behavior of substances under various conditions it is customary first to place the object to be examined under artificially produced conditions, and then to make an observation upon it. This whole performance, of which the observation is a part, is called an experiment. Formerly sciences were divided into sciences of experiment and sciences of observation, meaning observation without experiment. But now experiments are made in all sciences. It is only occasionally that the word observation has been used to imply the absence of experimentation.
- n. The result of such a scientific practice; the information gained by observing: as, to tabulate observations.
- n. Knowledge; experience.
- n. A remark, especially a remark based or professing to be based on what has been observed; an opinion expressed.
- n. The fact of being seen or noticed; notice; remark: as, to escape observation; anxious to avoid observation.
- n. Observance; careful attention to rule, custom, or precept, and performance of whatever is prescribed or required.
- n. A rite; a ceremony; an observance.
- n. Synonyms Observance, Observation. See observance.
- n. Experiment, etc. See experience.
- n. Note, Comment, etc. (see remark, n.), annotation.
Wiktionary
- n. The act of observing, and the fact of being observed.
- n. The act of noting and
recording some event; or the record of such noting. - n. A remark or comment.
- n. A judgement based on observing.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act or the faculty of observing or taking notice; the act of seeing, or of fixing the mind upon, anything.
- n. The result of an act, or of acts, of observing; view; reflection; conclusion; judgment.
- n. An expression of an opinion or judgment upon what one has observed; a remark.
- n. Performance of what is prescribed; adherence in practice; observance.
- n. The act of recognizing and noting some fact or occurrence in nature, as an aurora, a corona, or the structure of an animal.
- n. 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.
- n. The information so acquired.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the act of observing; taking a patient look
- n. the act of noticing or paying attention
- n. facts learned by observing
- n. the act of making and recording a measurement
- n. a remark expressing careful consideration
Examples
“Now, I guess that some of those figures have been pulled out of the ether (hands shaken?) but my main observation is that with apparently double the “activists”, Labour has handed out less than half the leaflets, put up two-thirds of the numbers of the posters and made less than a third of the phone-calls that their nationalist opponents have managed.”
“This observation is also a fact: the more Sarah Palin is publicly exposed, the more damage she is doing to the Republican Party and this helps the democrats.”
“But this observation is a clear incrimination of the colour-bias of the police force and pre-trial judicial procedures.”
Colour Conscious Justice: Towards a Colour Blind Justice System : Law is Cool
“On the contrary, even the deprecating categorization "Pygmy" has deep organic roots buried under layers of dispossession and power disequilibrium. 17 Despite colonial "inventions," identities that surfaced during periods of contested interaction were, in fact, based on preexisting communities — not fabricated from whole cloth. 18 This observation is as true for African societies as it was for settlers and slaves at the Cape.”
Belongings: Property, Family, and Identity in Colonial South Africa
“The other observation is about aspirational marketing, promoting a product or service that is too expensive for most customers.”
Verizon Shows How to Make Money by Cutting Prices - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com
“Perhaps related to this observation is a tendency to prefer order, neatness, symmetry, and balance.”
“Meanwhile, I see that you concede my main observation, which is that your Commerce Clause theory is not limited to intelligence-gathering at all, but to any wiretaps where the content is not made public.”
“A sane idealism believes that the eternal verities are adumbrated, not travestied, in the phenomenal world, and does not forget how much of what we call observation of nature is demonstrably the work of mind.”
“But the workings of the gym aren't complex enough to reward long-term observation, I think, and the result is indeed more like a light workout than his usual intense engagement.”
The Huffington Post: Michael Giltz: Cannes 2010 Day Eight and Nine: Carlos Is Caught
“Each chapter identifies the need for improved systematic, long-term observation and monitoring programs.”
Managing biodiversity conservation in a changing environment of the Arctic
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘observation’.
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-tion
vacation, suggestion, donation, condition, education, examination, federation, generation, imagination, invention, operation, pollution and 166 more...
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Words related to knowledge
Words that relate to learning, knowing, being enlightened...
revelation, eureka, awakening, idea, sapient, astute, canny, intelligent, wise, sharp, shrewd, informed and 466 more...
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method
empirical, evidence, measurable, specific, quantifiable, principle, tact, foo, betwixt, axiom, maxim, uncertainty and 5 more...

corinne The fundamental thinking skill and the foundation on which all other thinking skills are based.
Eggen PD, Kauchak DP. Strategies for Teachers: Teaching Content and Thinking Skills Apr 22, 2007