Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

observation

 noun
     
ob‧ser‧va‧tion W3
1 [uncountable and countable] the process of watching something or someone carefully for a period of timeCOLLOCATIONS COLLOCATIONS
be under observation (=being watched carefully) keep somebody under observation somebody's powers of observation (=someone's ability to notice things) close/careful/detailed observation direct observation personal observation
observation of
Bloomfield's approach to linguistics was based on observation of the language.
He spent two nights under close observation in hospital.
His orders were to keep the men under observation.
Art classes help develop children's powers of observation.
Careful observation suggests that this is not the case.
Detailed observations were carried out on the behaviour of the students.
From their direct observations, children absorb a model of marriage.
2 [countable] something that you notice when watching something or someone:
Some interesting observations emerged from this research.
3 [countable] a spoken or written remark about something you have noticed
observation on
Darwin's observations on the habits of certain birds
observation about
Paz makes some observations about the role of the critic.
4 [uncountable] the act of obeying a law etc [= observance]
—observational adjective
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
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