projection

American  

[pruh-jek-shuhn] / prəˈdʒɛk ʃən /

noun

• projections
  plural

1. a projecting or protruding part.

   Synonyms:

   jut, protrusion, overhang

2. the state or fact of jutting out or protruding.

3. a causing to jut or protrude.

4. the act, process, or result of projecting.

5. Also called map projection.  Cartography. a systematic construction of lines drawn on a plane surface representative of and corresponding to the meridians and parallels of the curved surface of the earth or celestial sphere.

6. Photography.

   1. the act of reproducing on a surface, by optical means, a remote image on a film, slide, etc.

   2. an image so reproduced.

7. the act of visualizing and regarding an idea or the like as an objective reality.

8. something that is so visualized and regarded.

9. calculation of some future thing.

   They fell short of their projection for the rate of growth.

   Synonyms:

   extrapolation, forecast, prediction

10. the act of communicating distinctly and forcefully to an audience.

11. Psychology.

    1. the tendency to ascribe to another person feelings, thoughts, or attitudes present in oneself, or to regard external reality as embodying such feelings, thoughts, etc., in some way.

    2. Psychoanalysis. such an ascription relieving the ego of a sense of guilt or other intolerable feeling.

12. the act of planning or scheming.

13. Alchemy. the casting of the powder of philosophers' stone upon metal in fusion, to transmute it into gold or silver.

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projection British  

/ prəˈdʒɛkʃən /

noun

1. the act of projecting or the state of being projected

2. an object or part that juts out

3. See map projection

4. the representation of a line, figure, or solid on a given plane as it would be seen from a particular direction or in accordance with an accepted set of rules

5. a scheme or plan

6. a prediction based on known evidence and observations

7. 1. the process of showing film on a screen

   2. the image or images shown

8. psychol

   1. the belief, esp in children, that others share one's subjective mental life

   2. the process of projecting one's own hidden desires and impulses See also defence mechanism

9. the mixing by alchemists of powdered philosopher's stone with molten base metals in order to transmute them into gold

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projection Scientific  

/ prə-jĕk′shən /

1. The image of a geometric figure reproduced on a line, plane, or surface.

2. A system of intersecting lines, such as the grid of a map, on which part or all of the globe or another spherical surface is represented as a plane surface.

3. See more at azimuthal projection conic projection cylindrical projection

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonprojection
  noun
• self-projection
  noun
• projectional
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• projections
  plural

Etymology

Origin of projection

First recorded in 1470–80; from Latin prōjectiōn- (stem of prōjectiō ) “a throwing forward”; see project, -ion

Explanation

When you push something away from a central structure, that's called projection. If you predict that the Jets will win tomorrow's game, that's a projection, too — you're pushing your mind away from the present and into the future. The Jets and projection actually have a common linguistic ancestor. Both the ject in projection and the word jet come from the Latin root jactus, which means "throw." A jet plane throws itself — or projects itself — away from a central structure (the Earth) and into the air.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

projection projections

Collecting 16 VistaVision titles, the series follows a recent uptick in audience interest concerning projection formats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

The revenue projection includes around $7.9 billion in semiconductor systems revenue and $1.84 billion in applied global services revenue.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

Capital expenditure for the year is way up from the February projection, rising from $200 billion to $220 billion.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

There is some overlap but, from information gathered by BBC Sport to date, this is the best projection of what Chelsea's squad could look like.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

For Plato, the sublunary world was a distorted projection of the world of essences.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

“To validate these projections, tech companies will need to bring in unprecedented amounts of new revenue,” Berezin wrote.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

The projections were released weeks after each meeting in an addendum to the minutes of those discussions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

DBS cuts its 2026-2027 new business value projections by 5% to partly reflect high base effects, leading to a lower target price of 106.00 Hong Kong dollars from HK$108.00.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

I would definitely not sell out of long-term, multiyear positions because of projections of a pullback that may not happen.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026

She watched how quickly they loaded their film into the news-boxes, sending out tiny projections of her throughout the Marvellian world.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

Related Words

• calculation
• estimate
• estimation
• forecast