annotation
Americannoun
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annotations
plural
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a critical or explanatory note or body of notes added to a text.
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the act of annotating.
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note. annot.
noun
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the act of annotating
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a note added in explanation, etc, esp of some literary work
Usage
What does annotation mean? An annotation is a note or comment added to a text to provide explanation or criticism about a particular part of it. Annotation can also refer to the act of annotating—adding annotations. Annotations are often added to scholarly articles or to literary works that are being analyzed. But the term can be used in a more general way to refer to a note added to any text. For example, a note that you scribble in the margin of your textbook is an annotation, as is an explanatory comment that you add to a list of tasks at work. Something that has had such notes added to it can be described as annotated. The word annotation is sometimes abbreviated as annot. (which can also mean annotated or annotator). Example: The annotations in this edition of the book really helped me to understand the historical context and the meanings of some obscure words.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of annotation
First recorded in 1425–75, annotation is from the Latin word annotātiōn- (stem of annotātiō ). See annotate, -ion
Explanation
Annotations are simply notes or comments. If you have trouble understanding Shakespeare, you may want to buy a copy of "Hamlet" with annotations on each page that explain all the vocabulary words and major themes. The word annotation comes from the Latin root words ad, meaning "to," and notare, meaning "to note." The act of adding explanatory notes to something is also called annotation, as in "Your friends might be amused by your annotation of the text, but I don't think the professor will accept "No one knows and no one cares!" as a reason for why the protagonist acted the way he did."
Vocabulary lists containing annotation
Reading: Informational - Middle School
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The Fellowship of the Ring
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Additional Glossary Terms
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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.
See Examples For:
More accurate identification of subgenomes could improve gene annotation, trait mapping, and comparative genomic studies.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026
India has positioned itself as a global middleman for the creation, processing and annotation of AI data.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI has laid off 500 workers from its data annotation team, which helps train its Grok chatbot.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2025
It includes Nat Friedman, former boss of software development platform GitHub, Alexandr Wang of data annotation firm Scale AI and co-creators of OpenAI's models.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2025
Scrolling further down the screen, Charles came across a rather unusual annotation: “You didn’t really think we’d make it that easy, did you?”
From "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" by Chris Grabenstein
My annotations helped me come up with a central idea to use for my final paper, but after a point it was no longer an assignment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026
The spreadsheet he created was a mess of account numbers and annotations that only he could understand, Alice said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2025
They went on to discover two other novels on his bookshelf also featured annotations by his wife.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2025
It may be cute that Feig and other interviewees are seen watching the clips but their annotations feel like overkill.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2024
He struggled with the Russian and continually asked his mother to translate some of the prose passages that accompanied the annotations of the moves.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
