Observation

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Observation \Ob`ser*va"tion\, n. [L. observatio: cf. F.
     observation.]
     1. The act or the faculty of observing or taking notice; the
        act of seeing, or of fixing the mind upon, anything.
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              My observation, which very seldom lies. --Shak.
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     2. The result of an act, or of acts, of observing; view;
        reflection; conclusion; judgment.
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              In matters of human prudence, we shall find the
              greatest advantage in making wise observations on
              our conduct.                          --I. Watts.
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     3. Hence: An expression of an opinion or judgment upon what
        one has observed; a remark. "That's a foolish
        observation." --Shak.
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              To observations which ourselves we make
              We grow more partial for the observer's sake.
                                                    --Pope.
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     4. Performance of what is prescribed; adherence in practice;
        observance. [Obs.]
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              We are to procure dispensation or leave to omit the
              observation of it in such circumstances. --Jer.
                                                    Taylor.
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     5. (Science)
        (a) The act of recognizing and noting some fact or
            occurrence in nature, as an aurora, a corona, or the
            structure of an animal.
        (b) Specifically, the act of measuring, with suitable
            instruments, some magnitude, as the time of an
            occultation, with a clock; the right ascension of a
            star, with a transit instrument and clock; the sun's
            altitude, or the distance of the moon from a star,
            with a sextant; the temperature, with a thermometer,
            etc.
        (c) The information so acquired; as, to record one's
            observations carefully.
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     Note: When a phenomenon is scrutinized as it occurs in
           nature, the act is termed an observation. When the
           conditions under which the phenomenon occurs are
           artificial, or arranged beforehand by the observer, the
           process is called an experiment. Experiment includes
           observation.
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     {To take an observation} (Naut.), to ascertain the altitude
        of a heavenly body, with a view to fixing a vessel's
        position at sea.
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     Syn: Observance; notice; attention; remark; comment; note.
          See {Observance}.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  observation
       n 1: the act of making and recording a measurement
       2: the act of observing; taking a patient look [syn: {observance},
           {watching}]
       3: facts learned by observing; "he reported his observations to
          the mayor"
       4: the act of noticing or paying attention; "he escaped the
          notice of the police" [syn: {notice}, {observance}]
       5: a remark expressing careful consideration [syn: {reflection},
           {reflexion}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  165 Moby Thesaurus words for "observation":
     Parthian shot, accordance, acquittal, acquittance, address,
     adherence, advertence, advertency, affirmation, alertness,
     allegation, announcement, answer, apostrophe, apprehension,
     assertion, assiduity, assiduousness, assumption, attention,
     attention span, attentiveness, attitude, averment, awareness,
     bugging, care, carrying out, climate of opinion,
     cloak-and-dagger work, cognizance, comment, commentary,
     common belief, community sentiment, compliance, conceit,
     concentration, concept, conception, conclusion, conformance,
     conformity, consciousness, consensus gentium, consideration,
     counterespionage, counterintelligence, crack, criticism,
     declaration, dictum, diligence, discharge, discovery, ear,
     earnestness, electronic surveillance, espial, espionage, estimate,
     estimation, ethos, examination, exclamation, execution, expression,
     eye, fancy, feeling, following, fulfillment, general belief,
     greeting, heed, heedfulness, heeding, idea, image, imago,
     impression, inspection, intellectual object, intelligence,
     intelligence work, intentiveness, intentness, interjection,
     judgment, keeping, lights, looking, lookout, mark, memory-trace,
     mental image, mental impression, mention, military intelligence,
     mind, mindfulness, mystique, note, notice, notion, obiter dictum,
     observance, opinion, perception, performance, personal judgment,
     phrase, point of view, popular belief, position, posture, practice,
     presumption, prevailing belief, proclamation, pronouncement,
     public belief, public opinion, question, reaction, recept,
     reflection, regard, regardfulness, remark, representation, respect,
     satisfaction, say, saying, scrutiny, secret police, secret service,
     sentence, sentiment, shadowing, sight, spying, stakeout, stance,
     statement, subjoinder, supposition, surveillance, survey, tailing,
     theory, thinking, thought, trailing, utterance, view, viewing,
     watch, watching, way of thinking, wiretap, wiretapping, witnessing,
     word