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• visitation
  visitation

  noun

  the act of visiting.
• Visitation
  Visitation

  noun

visitation

American  

[viz-i-tey-shuhn] / ˌvɪz ɪˈteɪ ʃən /

noun

visitations plural

1. the act of visiting.

2. a formal visit, as one permitted by a court's granting of visitation rights or by parents invited to a school to observe the work of students.

3. a visit for the purpose of making an official examination or inspection, as of a bishop to a diocese.

4. (usually initial capital letter) the visit of the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. Luke 1:36–56.

5. (initial capital letter) a church festival, held on July 2, in commemoration of this visit.

6. the administration of comfort or aid, or of affliction or punishment.

   a visitation of the plague.

7. an affliction or punishment, as from God.

8. the appearance or coming of a supernatural influence or spirit.

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visitation ¹ British  

/ ˌvɪzɪˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. an official call or visit for the purpose of inspecting or examining an institution, esp such a visit made by a bishop to his diocese

2. a visiting of punishment or reward from heaven

3. any disaster or catastrophe

   a visitation of the plague

4. an appearance or arrival of a supernatural being

5. any call or visit

6. informal an unduly prolonged social call

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Visitation ² British  

/ ˌvɪzɪˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. 1. the visit made by the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1:39–56)

   2. the Church festival commemorating this, held on July 2

2. a religious order of nuns, the Order of the Visitation, founded in 1610 by St Francis of Sales and dedicated to contemplation and the cultivation of humility, gentleness, and sisterly love

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• intervisitation
  noun
• revisitation
  noun
• visitational
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• visitations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of visitation

1275–1325; < Latin vīsitātiōn- (stem of vīsitātiō ), equivalent to vīsitāt ( us ) (past participle of vīsitāre; see visit, -ate ¹) + -iōn- -ion; replacing Middle English visitacioun < Anglo-French < Latin, as above

Explanation

Use the noun visitation to describe a formal or official visit, like the city health inspector's yearly visitation to your favorite pizza place. A visitation often includes some kind of evaluation or inspection, or has some other formal aspect. Meeting with a prisoner might be described as a visitation, and the official scheduled time that divorced parents have with their children are also a kind of visitation. Another meaning of the word is "calamity," or "disaster," especially one of Biblical, plague-like proportions: "The town faced a visitation of unbearably hot temperatures for three weeks."

Example Sentences

“This customer profile has demonstrated resilience across economic cycles, benefiting from brand loyalty, habitual visitation and the affordable convenience positioning of the category,” the filing said.

From MarketWatch • Jul. 2, 2026

For a period last month, Delaney Hall even paused all visitation.

From Salon • Jun. 29, 2026

“The island ecosystem is pretty diverse and complex. There are a lot of things at play: wind, visitation, the remoteness of the island.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026

The small size of the MV Plancius—another Oceanwide vessel—meant that everyone onboard could get off at each site visited in the Antarctic, whose regions have strict visitation limits by size of group and frequency.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 17, 2026

If a lifetime as the son of the fighter pilot had taught him one thing, it was that he knew instinctively the meaning of this ill-timed visitation: This was a promenade of ruin.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy