rotation

American  

[roh-tay-shuhn] / roʊˈteɪ ʃən /

noun

• rotations
  plural

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 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

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• rotations
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of rotation

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

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Explanation

When something turns like a wheel, over and over again, it's in rotation. You can't feel the earth's rotation even though you know it's happening. Even if you find the rotation of clothes in the dryer comforting, it's best to remain on the outside looking in. Rotation can also mean a series that repeats. A baseball team has a "pitching rotation" (five pitchers who take turns starting games), while a song that's on the radio every fifteen minutes is on "heavy rotation."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rotation rotations

The Dodgers’ trade deadline acquisition of two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal covered the loss of Ohtani in the rotation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

A sharp selloff in shares of companies closely tied to the AI trade is driving investors toward safety, sparking a rotation into defensive stocks and fueling a surprise rally in hard-hit Treasury notes and bonds.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026

Certain polarization patterns produce a form of rotation called spin.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

Tampa Bay outplayed New York at every turn, stymieing the Yankees’ lineup and frustrating their vaunted rotation with a relentless offensive attack.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

Other regions, which did not happen to pick up a rotation, would become oval-shaped objects called elliptical galaxies.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking

The Dodgers have one of baseball’s most formidable starting rotations, and they are in a strong position to be at their collective best against Milwaukee.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026

There is a shared understanding at Bayern of an approach that allows team-mates to make sense of rotations that, to the naked eye, appear random.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

Because the telescope observes from space, it can capture sharper images across complete rotations of Saturn without the blurring caused by Earth's atmosphere.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026

The JPMorgan playbook is slightly different, expressed through sector and style rotations.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

Other Twelve Towns Uncles had been doing rotations since the Cursed Toads were discovered, but it was a lot of work.

From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega

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Related Words

• orbit

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