Crossword clues for observation
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Observation \Ob`ser*va"tion\, n. [L. observatio: cf. F. observation.]
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The act or the faculty of observing or taking notice; the act of seeing, or of fixing the mind upon, anything.
My observation, which very seldom lies.
--Shak. -
The result of an act, or of acts, of observing; view; reflection; conclusion; judgment.
In matters of human prudence, we shall find the greatest advantage in making wise observations on our conduct.
--I. Watts. -
Hence: An expression of an opinion or judgment upon what one has observed; a remark. ``That's a foolish observation.''
--Shak.To observations which ourselves we make We grow more partial for the observer's sake.
--Pope. -
Performance of what is prescribed; adherence in practice; observance. [Obs.]
We are to procure dispensation or leave to omit the observation of it in such circumstances.
--Jer. Taylor. -
(Science)
The act of recognizing and noting some fact or occurrence in nature, as an aurora, a corona, or the structure of an animal.
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.
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The information so acquired; as, to record one's observations carefully.
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.
To take an observation (Naut.), to ascertain the altitude of a heavenly body, with a view to fixing a vessel's position at sea.
Syn: Observance; notice; attention; remark; comment; note. See Observance.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., "performance of a religious rite," from Latin observationem (nominative observatio) "a watching over, observance, investigation," noun of action from past participle stem of observare (see observe). Sense of "act or fact of paying attention" is from 1550s. Meaning "a remark in reference to something observed" first recorded 1590s.
Wiktionary
n. The act of observing, and the fact of being observed.
WordNet
n. the act of making and recording a measurement
the act of observing; taking a patient look [syn: observance, watching]
facts learned by observing; "he reported his observations to the mayor"
the act of noticing or paying attention; "he escaped the notice of the police" [syn: notice, observance]
a remark expressing careful consideration [syn: reflection, reflexion]
Wikipedia
Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the recording of data via the use of instruments. The term may also refer to any data collected during the scientific activity. Observations can be qualitative, that is, only the absence or presence of a property is noted, or quantitative if a numerical value is attached to the observed phenomenon by counting or measuring.
Observation is sensing and assimilating the knowledge of a phenomenon into a framework of previous knowledge and ideas.
Observation may also refer to:
- Observation in auditing, a procedure to obtain audit evidence.
- Observation tower
- Observation deck
- Observer (special relativity) a specialized meaning of the concept that physicists use
- Observation car (often abbreviated to observation), a type of railroad passenger car
- Watchful waiting (also referred to as observation), an approach to a medical problem in which time is allowed to pass before further testing or therapy is pursued
- Medical observation
- Observations and Measurements, an information model and data transfer standard
- "The Observation", a song by Donovan from his 1967 album Mellow Yellow
- "Observations", a song by Avail from their 1992 album Satiate
- Observations (album), a 1996 album by Steve Swell and Chris Kelsey
- Observations, Richard Avedon's 1959 collaborative book with Truman Capote containing portraits of famous people
- An empirically obtained random variate in statistics
- A unit of a sample, in statistics
Usage examples of "observation".
These observations arose out of a motion made by Lord Bathurst, who had been roughly handled by the mob on Friday, for an address praying that his majesty would give immediate orders for prosecuting, in the most effectual manner, the authors, abettors, and instruments of the outrages committed both in the vicinity of the houses of parliament and upon the houses and chapels of the foreign ministers.
The observations of such individuals will be more complicated to analyze than those of constant-velocity observers, whose motion is more serene, but nevertheless we can ask whether there is some way of taming this complexity and bringing accelerated motion squarely into our newfound understanding of space and time.
Lance Dixon of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center made a pivotal observation in this regard that was further amplified by Wolfgang Lerche of CERN, Vafa at Harvard, and Nicholas Warner, then of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
She could be sure that Sister Erminet would report every detail of her encounter with the High Initiate back to Kael Amion, enriching the mixture with her own acerbic observations.
But, like Parmenides and Protagoras, Socrates also turned away from scientific observation and concentrated more on what might be achieved by raw thought.
The flower under observation at first diverged a little from its upright position, so as to occupy the open space caused by the removal of the adjoining flowers.
After a few observations from Lords Brougham and Londonderry, the debate was adjourned till the following week, when the lord-chancellor stated that he should propose that power be given to the crown to allow the prince to take precedence next after any heir-apparent to the throne.
To collect, to dispose, and to adorn a series of fourscore years, in an immortal work, every sentence of which is pregnant with the deepest observations and the most lively images, was an undertaking sufficient to exercise the genius of Tacitus himself during the greatest part of his life.
Moya, in the course of meteorological observations on July 3, spotted the presence of an aerial object sighted for 20 minutes by nine members of the garrison.
US National Aeronautics and Space Administration to make visual observations of large artificial satellites passing overhead.
This observation, together with the warm look that accompanied it, left no doubt where Alec stood in her estimation.
Now, this angle by adding to it the twenty-seven degrees which separated Alpha from the antarctic pole, and by reducing to the level of the sea the height of the cliff on which the observation had been made, was found to be fiftythree degrees.
Now the heli flew low and fast across the altiplano, as if fearless of hostile observation from above.
In Key West, the storm disabled the anemometers at the weather observation office, along with seven hundred feet of new concrete dock being installed by the War Department, and finished off the three-story concrete cigar factory of the Havana-American Company, severely damaged in the hurricane the year before.
Whereas Ruskin throws out a multitude of aphoristic utterances about many different aspects of nature, which will provide us with further starting-points for our own observation and thought, Howard is concerned with a single sphere of phenomena, that of cloud formation.