enumeration

American  

[ih-noo-muh-rey-shuhn, ih-nyoo-] / ɪˌnu məˈreɪ ʃən, ɪˌnyu- /

noun

1. an act of enumerating.

2. a catalog or list.

---

Other Word Forms

• preenumeration noun
• reenumeration noun

Etymology

Origin of enumeration

First recorded in 1545–55, enumeration is from the Latin word ēnumerātiōn- (stem of ēnumerātiō ). See enumerate, -ion

Explanation

Enumeration means counting or reciting numbers or a numbered list. A waiter's lengthy enumeration of all the available salad dressings might seem a little hostile if he begins with a deep sigh. When you're reciting a list of things, it's enumeration. Your enumeration of complaints about your hotel room might be received with a smile by the manager, but she may be silently engaging in her own enumeration of the reasons she doesn't want you at her hotel. The root of the word "number" — numer, from the Latin numerus — is hiding in the middle of enumeration. Just remember to leave out the b from number when you spell it.

Example Sentences

They held six caste censuses between 1871 and 1931 - the last full caste enumeration in India.

From BBC • Nov. 12, 2025

We have better statistical models at our disposal now, better things we can use to get a more accurate enumeration of the population.

From Salon • Jul. 14, 2024

Emmy Thelander, an artist and adjunct professor at City University of New York, said it wasn’t the job’s requirements but their obsessive enumeration that was hardest to swallow.

From New York Times • Feb. 26, 2023

There are moments when his detailed enumeration of geographic calamities reads like David Wallace-Wells’ “The Uninhabitable Earth,” while some of the procedural stuff comes across like a forward-projected version of Nathaniel Rich’s “Losing Earth.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 10, 2023

The voice rose and fell in a rhythmical, dreamlike recital-part enumeration of earthly trials undergone by the congregation, part rapt display of vocal virtuosity, part appeal to God.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison