translation

American  

[trans-ley-shuhn, tranz-] / trænsˈleɪ ʃən, trænz- /

noun

translations plural

1. the rendering of something into another language or into one's own from another language.

2. a version of such a rendering.

   a new translation of Plato.

3. change or conversion to another form, appearance, etc.; transformation.

   a swift translation of thought into action.

4. the act or process of translating.

5. the state of being translated.

6. Mechanics. motion in which all particles of a body move with the same velocity along parallel paths.

7. Telegraphy. the retransmitting or forwarding of a message, as by relay.

8. Mathematics.

   1. a function obtained from a given function by adding the same constant to each value of the variable of the given function and moving the graph of the function a constant distance to the right or left.

   2. a transformation in which every point of a geometric figure is moved the same distance in the same direction.

9. Genetics. the process by which a messenger RNA molecule specifies the linear sequence of amino acids on a ribosome for protein synthesis.

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idioms

1. lose something in translation. see lose in translation.

translation British  

/ trænz-, trænsˈleɪʃən /

noun

1. something that is or has been translated, esp a written text

2. the act of translating or the state of being translated

3. maths a transformation in which the origin of a coordinate system is moved to another position so that each axis retains the same direction or, equivalently, a figure or curve is moved so that it retains the same orientation to the axes

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translation Scientific  

/ trăns-lā′shən /

1. Biochemistry The process in the ribosomes of a cell by which a strand of messenger RNA directs the assembly of a sequence of amino acids to make a protein.

2. Biochemistry Compare transcription

3. Physics Motion of a body in which every point of the body moves parallel to and the same distance as every other point of the body.

4. Mathematics The changing of the coordinates of points to coordinates that are referred to new axes that are parallel to the old axes.

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Synonym Usage

Translation , paraphrase , version refer to a rewording of something. A translation is a rendering of the same ideas in a different language from the original: a translation from Greek into English. A paraphrase is a free rendering of the sense of a passage in other words, usually in the same language: a paraphrase of a poem. A version is a translation, especially of the Bible, or else an account of something illustrating a particular point of view: the Douay Version.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pretranslation
  noun
• retranslation
  noun
• translational
  adjective
• translationally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• translations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of translation

First recorded in 1300–50; from Latin trānslātiōn- (stem of trānslātiō ) “a transferring,” equivalent to trānslāt(us) ( see translate) + -iōn- -ion; replacing Middle English translacioun, from Anglo-French, from Latin, as above

Explanation

"C'est un dictionnaire en ligne." Don't understand? Here's a translation for you: "This is an online dictionary." A translation is the written or verbal rewording of something from one language into another that keeps the same meaning. A translation doesn't have to be strictly from one language to another; it can be a rewording that makes something easier to understand or less technical in nature, as suggested by the common phrase, "Can you translate that into plain English?" If what is translated takes a written form, as in a book, for example, then the object itself is called a translation.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

translation translations

Norton, told USA Today that domestic sales of Wilson’s translation surpassed a million copies this year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Around 2015 and 2016, machine translation started becoming genuinely good, almost perfect in some language pairs.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026

Yet in Minneapolis, that translation carried its own history.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

An English translation of the memoir was published last year.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

Thus Descartes opted for the least common phrase available to him in French as a translation for lex naturae in order to give his phrase a precise reference to scientific laws, not moral ones.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

The story of the “Wooden Horse,” as most translations call it, gets only brief references in Homer’s epic, cited in passing as an example of Odysseus’s cunning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

Nolan makes only a handful of changes to the translations of the original text.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026

Instead, she is increasingly offered work proofreading machine-generated translations.

From Barron's ● May 27, 2026

The belief stems from the denomination's approach to the Bible, whereby scripture is read literally, but using only the organisation's approved translations.

From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2026

William thought about the texts that he and I had read together—the great Rashi, who had shown our bishops the errors in our translations of the Hebrew Bible.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz

Related Words

• adaptation
• explanation
• reading
• rendering
• rendition
• transcription
• version