observation

American  

[ob-zur-vey-shuhn] / ˌɒb zɜrˈveɪ ʃən /

noun

• observations
  plural

1. an act or instance of noticing or perceiving.

2. an act or instance of regarding attentively or watching.

3. the faculty or habit of observing or noticing.

   Synonyms:

   attention

4. notice.

   to escape a person's observation.

5. an act or instance of viewing or noting a fact or occurrence for some scientific or other special purpose.

   the observation of blood pressure under stress.

6. the information or record secured by such an act.

7. something that is learned in the course of observing things.

   My observation is that such clouds mean a storm.

8. a remark, comment, or statement based on what one has noticed or observed.

   Synonyms:

   opinion, pronouncement

9. the condition of being observed.

10. Navigation.

    1. the measurement of the altitude or azimuth of a heavenly body for navigational purposes.

    2. the information obtained by such a measurement.

11. Obsolete. observance, as of the law.

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observation British  

/ ˌɒbzəˈveɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of observing or the state of being observed

2. a comment or remark

3. detailed examination of phenomena prior to analysis, diagnosis, or interpretation

   the patient was under observation

4. the facts learned from observing

5. an obsolete word for observance

6. nautical

   1. a sight taken with an instrument to determine the position of an observer relative to that of a given heavenly body

   2. the data so taken

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Synonym Usage

See remark.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonobservation
  noun
• preobservation
  noun
• reobservation
  noun
• self-observation
  noun
• observational
  adjective
• observationally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• observations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of observation

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin observātiōn-, stem of observātiō “attention, inspection, surveillance,” from observāt(us) “watched” (past participle of observāre “to watch, regard, attend to”; see observe) + -iō -ion

Explanation

When you take a good look at something, noticing facts or taking measurements, you are engaging in observation, something a little more intense than just a quick glance. When you share an observation, you communicate an insight. The Latin verb observāre, "to attend to," is the foundation for our word observation, which requires that you pay attention. If a hospital holds you overnight for observation, they want to keep an eye on your condition. If you have a lot of funny or interesting observations on a topic, maybe you should write a book. Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell once said, "If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

observation observations

And she made this observation, Edwards said, “as a liberal-facing queer person that believes in climate science.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

The government sent 50,000 aid packages weighing a total of 275 tonnes to the area, and European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen offered help from the bloc's Copernicus Earth observation satellites.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

During their conversation, chief research officer Mark Chen made a curious observation about how the models approach tricky problems.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

Astrophysicists in India now say the latest findings from Aditya-L1, the country's first solar observation mission in space, have provided them some vital clues to unlocking those mysteries.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

I figured he was making the observation post Abby had been pestering me about.

From "Crash" by Jerry Spinelli

Within a day, observations from the Liverpool Telescope in the Canary Islands and NASA's Swift satellite in space showed that the object displayed the expected characteristics of an LFBOT.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026

By combining these new southern observations with data gathered in the north, SDSS-V is bringing panoptic spectroscopy across both hemispheres.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

As indigenous people have often taught us, culture is not merely human but a matter of shared environments, rituals, observations and respect.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Based on inflation-adjusted earnings over the past decade, the Shiller P/E is in the highest few percentiles of historical observations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

“Not exactly, but I have learned about this emotion from you. And from my observations, I am drawing the conclusion that you are experiencing anger.”

From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga

Related Words

• conclusion
• consideration
• examination
• experience
• information
• inspection
• investigation
• knowledge
• measurement
• note
• perception
• remark
• research
• review
• study
• surveillance
• view