Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

-ation

American  
  1. a combination of -ate 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.


-ation British  

suffix

  1. indicating an action, process, state, condition, or result Compare -ion -tion

    arbitration

    cogitation

    hibernation

    moderation

"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

Etymology

Origin of -ation

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It doesn’t seem like one -ism or -ation is entirely to blame, like globalism or immigration, capitalism or inflation.

From Slate

“So I thought the only way to do it, really, was to break it into two halves. And I tried to keep Bricusse’s rhyming structure. Luckily, there are thousands of ‘-ation’ words in the dictionary.”

From Los Angeles Times

Some of the WildCare Park’s aquatic turtle popul ation tested positive for it last summer but didn’t show symptoms such as snotty noses, gooey eyes and ulcers in the mouth.

From Washington Times

And so it goes for another 102 iterations of -ation, according to Uglow.

From New York Times

On the flight back to Washington, John Vandel began planning his oper- ation against the Chinese intelligence service.

From MSNBC