-ation

Save This Word!

a combination of -ate¹ and -ion, used to form nouns from stems in -ate1 (separation); on this model, used independently to form nouns from stems of other origin: starvation.

QUIZ

QUIZ YOURSELF ON AFFECT VS. EFFECT!

In effect, this quiz will prove whether or not you have the skills to know the difference between “affect” and “effect.”

Question 1 of 7

The rainy weather could not ________ my elated spirits on my graduation day.

affect

effect

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Meet Grammar Coach

Write or paste your essay, email, or story into Grammar Coach and get grammar help

Improve Your Writing

Meet Grammar CoachImprove Your Writing

Origin of -ation

<Latin -ātiōn- (stem of -ātiō), equivalent to -ā- stem vowel + -tiōn--tion

Words nearby -ation

tight rein on, a, atigi, atilt, A time to be born and a time to die, atingle, -ation, atiptoe, atishoo, at issue, at it, Atitlán

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use -ation in a sentence

But in his talk there were no pompous triads, and little more than a fair proportion of words in -osity and -ation.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 15, Slice 4|Various
Lor' bless 'ee, why there's the beautiful new recr'ation ground as we've just 'ad made!
Mr. Punch On Tour|Various
He was parsimonious, and the economy used at his coronation was so marked that it was called a "Half Crown-ation."
English Heraldic Book-stamps|Cyril Davenport
My wife had been dead fur sebrel years, an' not habbin' any chillum I libed by myse'f in er cabin on er big plan'ation.
Up Terrapin River|Opie P. Read

The green doors fell to behind Glaze and Puckinharn and cut off the murmured admir ation.
Ande Trembath|Matthew Stanley Kemp

British Dictionary definitions for -ation

-ation

suffix forming nouns

indicating an action, process, state, condition, or resultarbitration; cogitation; hibernation; moderation Compare -ion, -tion

Word Origin for -ation

from Latin -ātiōn-, suffix of abstract nouns, from -ātus -ate 1 + -iōn -ion

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012