rotation

American  

[roh-tey-shuhn] / roʊˈteɪ ʃən /

noun

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

2. Astronomy.

   1. the movement or path of the earth or a heavenly body turning on its axis.

   2. one complete turn of such a body.

3. regularly recurring succession, as of officials.

4. Agriculture. crop rotation.

5. Mathematics.

   1. an operation that rotates rotate a geometric figure about a fixed point.

   2. curl.

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

7. Baseball. pitching rotation.

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rotation British  

/ rəʊˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of rotating; rotary motion

2. a regular cycle of events in a set order or sequence

3. 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

4. maths

   1. a circular motion of a configuration about a given point or line, without a change in shape

   2. a transformation in which the coordinate axes are rotated by a fixed angle about the origin

   3. Abbreviation (for sense 4c): rot.  another name for curl

5. 1. the spinning motion of a body, such as a planet, about an internal axis Compare revolution

   2. one complete turn in such motion

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rotation Scientific  

/ rō-tā′shən /

1. The motion of an object around an internal axis.

2. A single complete cycle of such motion.

3. See Note at revolution

4. 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.

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Other Word Forms

• nonrotation noun
• nonrotational adjective
• rotational adjective
• unrotational adjective

Etymology

Origin of rotation

1545–55; < Latin rotātiōn- (stem of rotātiō ) a rotation, rolling, equivalent to rotāt ( us ) ( rotate ¹ ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

The rotation from tech into “real” has been good for one of the market’s biggest issues in 2025: a lack of breadth.

From Barron's

The steep drops in precious metals and Bitcoin served to “infect stocks” and sparked the “violent momentum rotation” into more-defensive sectors, the Evercore team added.

From Barron's

This week’s selloff was notable because it came even as a so-called rotation trade continued to gather pace, with investors piling into sectors beyond Big Tech.

From MarketWatch

Further moves higher will trigger bigger moves in the current market rotation.

From Barron's

At the same time, frequency tuning and local structural rotation were used to set the phase while keeping unwanted crosstalk low.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• orbit