Observation

n.	1.	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.
	2.	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.
	3.	An expression of an opinion or judgment upon what one has observed; a remark. To observations which ourselves we make We grow more partial for the observer's sake. - Pope.
	4.	Performance of what is prescribed; adherence in practice; observance. We are to procure dispensation or leave to omit the observation of it in such circumstances. - Jer. Taylor.
	5.	(Science) The act of recognizing and noting some fact or occurrence in nature, as an aurora, a corona, or the structure of an animal. To take an observation (Naut.) to ascertain the altitude of a heavenly body, with a view to fixing a vessel's position at sea.

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

Parthian shot, accordance, acquittal, acquittance, address, adherence, advertence, advertency, affirmation, alertness, allegation, announcement, answer, apostrophe, apprehension, assertion, assiduity, assiduousness, assumption, attention span, attentiveness, attitude, averment, awareness, bugging, care, carrying out, climate of opinion, cloak-and-dagger work, cognizance, 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, notion, obiter dictum, observance, 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, 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, way of thinking, wiretap, wiretapping, witnessing, word