Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of observing.
  • noun The power or faculty of observing.
  • noun The fact of being observed.
  • noun The act or process of perceiving something, such as a phenomenon, often by means of an instrument, and making a record of the resulting information.
  • noun The result or record of such an act or process.
  • noun An inference, judgment, or remark that is made by observing.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun 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.
  • noun The habit or power of observing and noting: as, a man of great observation.
  • noun 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.
  • noun The result of such a scientific practice; the information gained by observing: as, to tabulate observations.
  • noun Knowledge; experience.
  • noun A remark, especially a remark based or professing to be based on what has been observed; an opinion expressed.
  • noun The fact of being seen or noticed; notice; remark: as, to escape observation; anxious to avoid observation.
  • noun Observance; careful attention to rule, custom, or precept, and performance of whatever is prescribed or required.
  • noun A rite; a ceremony; an observance.
  • noun Synonyms Observance, Observation. See observance.
  • noun Experiment, etc. See experience.
  • noun Note, Comment, etc. (see remark, n.), annotation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act or the faculty of observing or taking notice; the act of seeing, or of fixing the mind upon, anything.
  • noun The result of an act, or of acts, of observing; view; reflection; conclusion; judgment.
  • noun An expression of an opinion or judgment upon what one has observed; a remark.
  • noun obsolete Performance of what is prescribed; adherence in practice; observance.
  • noun The act of recognizing and noting some fact or occurrence in nature, as an aurora, a corona, or the structure of an animal.
  • noun 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.
  • noun The information so acquired.
  • noun (Naut.) to ascertain the altitude of a heavenly body, with a view to fixing a vessel's position at sea.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of observing, and the fact of being observed.
  • noun The act of noting and recording some event; or the record of such noting.
  • noun A remark or comment.
  • noun A judgement based on observing.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the act of observing; taking a patient look
  • noun the act of noticing or paying attention
  • noun facts learned by observing
  • noun the act of making and recording a measurement
  • noun a remark expressing careful consideration

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin observatio

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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.

    Never mind the quantity... O'Neill 2008

  • 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.

    Palin: Don't trust media reports about book 2009

  • 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 2008

  • 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 2008

  • 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 2008

  • 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 2008

  • Perhaps related to this observation is a tendency to prefer order, neatness, symmetry, and balance.

    Synesthesia: the Flavor of Music, the Color of Touch Heather McDougal 2007

  • 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.

    Balkinization 2007

  • 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.

    Balkinization 2007

  • Perhaps related to this observation is a tendency to prefer order, neatness, symmetry, and balance.

    Archive 2007-10-01 Heather McDougal 2007

Comments

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  • 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

    April 22, 2007