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• visitation
  visitation

  noun

  the act of visiting.
• Visitation
  Visitation

visitation

American  

[viz-i-tey-shuhn] / ˌvɪz ɪˈteɪ ʃən /

noun

• visitations
  plural

1. the act of visiting.

2. a formal visit, as one permitted by a court's granting of visitation rights or by parents invited to a school to observe the work of students.

3. a visit for the purpose of making an official examination or inspection, as of a bishop to a diocese.

4. (usually initial capital letter) the visit of the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. Luke 1:36–56.

5. (initial capital letter) a church festival, held on July 2, in commemoration of this visit.

6. the administration of comfort or aid, or of affliction or punishment.

   a visitation of the plague.

7. an affliction or punishment, as from God.

8. the appearance or coming of a supernatural influence or spirit.

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visitation ¹ British  

/ ˌvɪzɪˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. an official call or visit for the purpose of inspecting or examining an institution, esp such a visit made by a bishop to his diocese

2. a visiting of punishment or reward from heaven

3. any disaster or catastrophe

   a visitation of the plague

4. an appearance or arrival of a supernatural being

5. any call or visit

6. informal an unduly prolonged social call

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Visitation ² British  

/ ˌvɪzɪˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. 1. the visit made by the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1:39–56)

   2. the Church festival commemorating this, held on July 2

2. a religious order of nuns, the Order of the Visitation, founded in 1610 by St Francis of Sales and dedicated to contemplation and the cultivation of humility, gentleness, and sisterly love

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• intervisitation
  noun
• revisitation
  noun
• visitational
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• visitations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of visitation

1275–1325; < Latin vīsitātiōn- (stem of vīsitātiō ), equivalent to vīsitāt ( us ) (past participle of vīsitāre; see visit, -ate ¹) + -iōn- -ion; replacing Middle English visitacioun < Anglo-French < Latin, as above

Explanation

Use the noun visitation to describe a formal or official visit, like the city health inspector's yearly visitation to your favorite pizza place. A visitation often includes some kind of evaluation or inspection, or has some other formal aspect. Meeting with a prisoner might be described as a visitation, and the official scheduled time that divorced parents have with their children are also a kind of visitation. Another meaning of the word is "calamity," or "disaster," especially one of Biblical, plague-like proportions: "The town faced a visitation of unbearably hot temperatures for three weeks."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

visitation Visitation visitations

This can include custody and visitation, as well as sharing expenses like vet costs, food and treats.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

“Over the past decade, many parks have seen significant increases in visitation and crowding in popular areas, especially during peak seasons,” the agency wrote in 2024 as it sought public comments on park management.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

Nearly 60% of annual visitation occurs solely during the months of June, July and August.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

For a period last month, Delaney Hall even paused all visitation.

From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026

Men in suits and ties hovered in the lobby, eyeing me suspiciously as I walked into the visitation room at a little past nine.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

Visitation was down 7.5% last year, partly due to concerns about high prices, fees and stricter policies on traditionally free things like casino drinks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026

But it was subsequently bought by the church and became the Convent of the Visitation.

From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2025

In mourning and grief, it is this very haze of the fracturing of self, space and time that can find, in the practice of Visitation, some temporary bearings within a world upended.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2024

Visitation is Sunday and Monday, with a private funeral on Tuesday.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2023

Here’s the order of events on the day of the funeral: One: Visitation at the funeral home for an hour before the funeral service.

From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles

In June, he was denied unsupervised visitations with his children.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

But then on Sunday, when it was my turn to go visit him, we showed up, and visitations had been canceled, so we didn’t get to see him on Sunday.

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026

With an ensemble cast led by Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor, the action-packed film follows an effort to reveal a decades-long coverup of extra-terrestrial visitations.

From Barron's ● Jun. 14, 2026

ICE allows online "visitations", and she often gets through to her 18-year-old sister.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2025

Raoul, the new kid, has visitations from famous dead people.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman