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projection

[pruh-jek-shuh n]
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noun
  1. a projecting or protruding part.
  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.
  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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Origin of projection

1470–80; < Latin prōjectiōn- (stem of prōjectiō) a throwing forward. See project, -ion
Related formspro·jec·tion·al [pruh-jek-shuh-nl] /prəˈdʒɛk ʃə nl/, adjectivenon·pro·jec·tion, nounself-pro·jec·tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for projection

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • "A projection tube of some sort," said the doctor, pointing.

    The Solar Magnet

    Sterner St. Paul Meek

  • The "point" was merely a projection of the bluff about twenty feet away.

    The Portygee

    Joseph Crosby Lincoln

  • Could you not prevail to know the genesis of projection, as well as the continuation of it?'

    Essays, Second Series

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • It is a remoter and inferior incarnation of God, a projection of God in the unconscious.

    Nature

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • But the projection of the head prevented his seeing anything beyond.

British Dictionary definitions for projection

projection

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
    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 impulsesSee 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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Derived Formsprojectional, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for projection

n.

late 15c., in alchemy, "transmutation by casting a powder on molten metal; 1550s in the cartographical sense "drawing of a map or chart according to scale," from Middle French projection, from Latin proiectionem (nominative proiectio), from past participle stem of proicere (see project (n.)). From 1590s as "action of projecting."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
projection in Medicine

projection

(prə-jĕk′shən)
n.
  1. The act of projecting or the condition of being projected.
  2. The attribution of one's own attitudes, feelings, or suppositions to others.
  3. The attribution of one's own attitudes, feelings, or desires to someone or something as a naive or unconscious defense against anxiety or guilt.
  4. The localization of visual impressions to a point in space relative to the person who is doing the viewing: straight ahead, right, left, above, or below.
  5. Any of the systems of nerve fibers by which a group of nerve cells discharges its nerve impulses to one or more other cell groups.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
projection in Science

projection

[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. See more at azimuthal projection conic projection cylindrical projection.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.