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• visitation
  visitation

  noun

  the act of visiting.
• Visitation
  Visitation

visitation

American  

[viz-i-tay-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

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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

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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

Martinez’s attorney Patrick Baghdaserians told The Times his client was “very happy” with the judge’s order keeping Berry’s limited visitation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026

The 90-day suspension of Flavio Bolsonaro's visitation rights ended on Sunday.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

Unfavorable skiing weather, including cumulative snowfall in Australia that was 57% below the 10-year average, pressured visitation and revenue.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

But on two occasions when guards summoned Kao over the intercom, he refused to enter the visitation room.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

If a lifetime as the son of the fighter pilot had taught him one thing, it was that he knew instinctively the meaning of this ill-timed visitation: This was a promenade of ruin.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

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 the world now absent my sister, I cling to each and every Visitation from her as she comes in dreams.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2024

Visitation for Juliana Maria Farmer, 45, will be at Tomblinson Funeral Home in Henderson from 4-8 p.m.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 17, 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

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 Universal film follows an effort to reveal a decades-long coverup of extraterrestrial visitations.

From Barron's ● Jun. 21, 2026

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

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2025

The social worker assured him continued visitations were fine because nothing had happened in the past.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 20, 2023

They bought up girl babies so that many poor families welcomed their visitations.

From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston

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