reservation

American  

[rez-er-vay-shuhn] / ˌrɛz ərˈveɪ ʃən /

noun

• reservations
  plural

1. the act of keeping back, withholding, or setting apart.

2. the act of making an exception or qualification.

3. an exception or qualification made expressly or tacitly.

   to accept something, but with inner reservations.

4. a tract of public land set apart for a special purpose, as for the use of an Indian tribe.

5. an arrangement to secure accommodations at a restaurant or hotel, on a boat or plane, etc.

6. the record kept or assurance given of such an arrangement.

   Sorry, the hotel has no reservation under that name.

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reservation British  

/ ˌrɛzəˈveɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or an instance of reserving

2. something reserved, esp hotel accommodation, a seat on an aeroplane, in a theatre, etc

3. (often plural) a stated or unstated qualification of opinion that prevents one's wholehearted acceptance of a proposal, claim, statement, etc

4. an area of land set aside, esp (in the US) for American Indian peoples

5. the strip of land between the two carriageways of a dual carriageway

6. the act or process of keeping back, esp for oneself; withholding

7. law a right or interest retained by the grantor in property granted, conveyed, leased, etc, to another

   a reservation of rent

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonreservation
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• reservations
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of reservation

1350–1400; Middle English reservacioun < Middle French reservation, equivalent to reserv ( er ) to reserve + -ation -ation

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Explanation

A reservation is something set aside, like a table at a restaurant or land for Native Americans. For fancy restaurants and hotels, you need a reservation: you call ahead and ask them to set aside a table or room for you. A reservation is also a piece of land set aside by the government for a group. In the U.S., there are Native American reservations. Sometimes a reservation is a doubt. If you have reservations about taking a trip to Australia, then you're not sure about it. You're not rushing to make reservations at a hotel there.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reservation reservations

Without federal recognition, it cannot have a reservation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

Blevins demanded they never ask for a reservation fee again, which the men agreed to in a handshake deal, people familiar with the interaction said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

MI5 said it accepted the report's findings "without reservation" last month.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

He said he placed a reservation for the Roadster the month it was first revealed.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

I took part in tribal government, working for education reform on our reservation.

From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac

Muse agents from Meta try to make restaurant reservations with AI-generated voices.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026

Lord Kinnock, who is the father of Welsh Secretary Stephen Kinnock, also said he reservations about devolving justice to Wales - a key demand of the Plaid Cymru Welsh government.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

And keep in mind that influencers have an easier time getting into restaurants with impossible-to-get reservations than people like us do, so our experience wouldn’t be similar to theirs, anyways.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026

Under new rules announced last week, Airbnb will generally prohibit hosts from requiring guests to wash and put away dishes, strip beds or haul garbage off-site for reservations booked on or after November 20.

From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026

“We had 250 people in their homes doing reservations at Morris Air,” said Neeleman.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman

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Related Words

• doubt
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