From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English observacion, borrowed from Middle French observacion. Also a borrowing from French observation and a learned borrowing from Latin observātiō(n-). Morphologically observe +‎ -ation.

• Hyphenation: ob‧ser‧va‧tion

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

enPR: ŏb'zər-vāʹshən

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɒbzəˈveɪʃn̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɑbzɚˈveɪʃn̩/

enPR: əb-zər-vāʹshən

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /əbzə(ɾ)ˈveʃən/

observation (countable and uncountable, plural observations)

1. The act of observing, and the fact of being observed (see observance)

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, […] . We began to tell her about Mohair and the cotillon, and of our point of observation from the Florentine galleried porch, and she insisted she would join us there.

   • 2012 March-April, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 146:

     The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.

2. The act of noting and recording some event; or the record of such noting.
3. A remark or comment.

   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi]:

     That's a foolish observation.

   • 1734, Alexander Pope, Of the Knowledge and Characters of Men:

     To observations which ourselves we make / We grow more partial for the observer's sake.

4. A judgement based on observing.

   • 2001 September 27, Terrie E. Moffitt, Avshalom Caspi, Michael Rutter, Phil A. Silva, Sex Differences in Antisocial Behaviour: Conduct Disorder, Delinquency, and Violence in the Dunedin Longitudinal Study‎^[1], Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 151:

     This hypothesis goes by many names, including group resistence, the threshold effect, and the gender paradox. Because the hypothesis holds such wide appeal, it is worth revisiting the logic behind it. The hypothesis is built on the factual observation that fewer females than males act antisocially.

5. Performance of what is prescribed; adherence in practice; observance.

   • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:

     We are to procure dispensation or leave to omit the observation of it in such circumstances.

6. A regime under which a subject is routinely observed.
7. (stochastics) A realization of a random variable.

• observation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Borrowed from Latin observātiōnem. By surface analysis, observer +‎ -ation.

• IPA^(key): /ɔp.sɛʁ.va.sjɔ̃/

observation f (plural observations)

1. observation (careful or controlled attention or consideration)
2. observation (the result of such attention or consideration)
3. observation (process of detached, objective examination)
4. (often in the plural) observation (the result of one of the above-described actions expressed in or rendered into words for the purpose of dissemination)
5. observance of (adherence or conformity to) rules, conventions, laws, etc.

   Synonym: respect

6. observance (performance) of religious rituals, customs, traditions, etc.

   Synonym: observance

7. (management) work shadowing.

• “observation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

observation (plural observationes)

1. observation (something that has been observed)
2. observation (act or process of observing)
3. observation (regime under which a subject is routinely observed)