rotation

[roh-tey-shuh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rotation ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the act of rotating; a turning around as on an axis.

Astronomy.

the movement or path of the earth or a heavenly body turning on its axis.
one complete turn of such a body.

regularly recurring succession, as of officials.

Agriculture. crop rotation.

Mathematics.

an operation that rotates a geometric figure about a fixed point.
curl(def 14).

Pool. a game in which the balls are played in order by number.

Baseball. pitching rotation.

Origin of rotation

1545–55; < Latin rotātiōn- (stem of rotātiō) a rotation, rolling, equivalent to rotāt(us) (see rotate¹) + -iōn- -ion

Related formsro·ta·tion·al, adjectivenon·ro·ta·tion, nounnon·ro·ta·tion·al, adjectiveun·ro·ta·tion·al, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for rotation

orbit, cycle, gyration, circle, revolution, circumvolution, torque, vortex, turn, eddy, succession, spin, turning

Examples from the Web for rotation

Contemporary Examples of rotation

Following one week of “R&R,” the team will spend one more six-week rotation in the ETU before entering a three-week isolation.
$10,000 a Month for Ebola Fighters
Abby Haglage
October 7, 2014
"Palmer always keeps his word," beamed Weaver, putting the right hander back in the rotation.
Will the Real Jim Palmer Please Stand Up
Tom Boswell
September 27, 2014
Others who will join the rotation include Alan Alda, Candice Bergen, Stacy Keach, and Carol Burnett.
Fall Broadway Preview: 'This Is Our Youth,' Bradley Cooper as ‘The Elephant Man,' and More
Janice Kaplan
September 11, 2014
Of course, that relates to the other rotation of the spin herethat she was difficult and demanding.
The Hypocrisy Behind The New York Times’s Abrupt Decapitation of Jill Abramson
Robert Shrum
May 18, 2014
Ten stand, eight sleep, then eight different men sleep, all in a rotation.
Al Jazeera Journo Abdullah El-Shamy Goes On Hunger Strike In Egyptian Jail
Jonathan Krohn
March 29, 2014

Historical Examples of rotation

I must wait the rotation of the list, and there are twenty names before mine.
The Letters of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
If the direction of the boat is to be reversed, the rotation of the paddle-wheels is reversed.
Boys' Book of Model Boats
Raymond Francis Yates
The periods of rotation of the ball and of the ring were also fixed.
Sir William Herschel: His Life and Works
Edward Singleton Holden
Stop the rotation, and the atom would be annihilated for the same reason.
The Machinery of the Universe
Amos Emerson Dolbear
This rotation in the ether is produced by what is going on in the wire.
The Machinery of the Universe
Amos Emerson Dolbear

British Dictionary definitions for rotation

rotation

noun

the act of rotating; rotary motion

a regular cycle of events in a set order or sequence

a planned sequence of cropping according to which the crops grown in successive seasons on the same land are varied so as to make a balanced demand on its resources of fertility

maths

a circular motion of a configuration about a given point or line, without a change in shape
a transformation in which the coordinate axes are rotated by a fixed angle about the origin
another name for curl (def. 11) Abbreviation (for sense 4c): rot

the spinning motion of a body, such as a planet, about an internal axisCompare revolution (def. 5a)
one complete turn in such motion

Derived Formsrotational, 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 rotation

1550s, from Latin rotationem (nominative rotatio) "a turning about in a circle," noun of action from past participle stem of rotare "turn round, revolve, whirl about, roll," from PIE *roto- (see rotary).

rotation in Medicine

rotation

[rō-tā′shən]

n.

The act or process of turning around a center or an axis.

Regular and uniform variation in a sequence or series, as in the recurrence of symptoms of a disease.

rotation in Science

rotation

[rō-tā′shən]

The motion of an object around an internal axis.

A single complete cycle of such motion. See Note at revolution.

A transformation of a coordinate system in which the new axes have a specified angular displacement from their original position while the origin remains fixed.