Noun

(en noun)

(countable) An act of religious worship.

* a. 1779 ,

We incessantly look forward, and endeavour, by prayers, adoration , and sacrifice, to appease those unknown powers, whom we find, by experience, so able to afflict and oppress us.

(uncountable) Admiration or esteem.

* 1890,

...if she can create the sense of beauty in people whose lives have been sordid and ugly...she is worthy of all your adoration', worthy of the ' adoration of the world.

(uncountable) The act of adoring; loving devotion or fascination.

* 1887,

He adored Sorais quite as earnestly as Sir Henry adored Nyleptha, and his adoration had not altogether prospered.

Noun

(en noun)

The act of illustrating; the act of making clear and distinct; education; also, the state of being illustrated, or of being made clear and distinct.

That which illustrates; a comparison or example intended to make clear or apprehensible, or to remove obscurity.

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=June 19 , author=Phil McNulty , title=England 1-0 Ukraine , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=England will regard it as a measure of justice for Frank Lampard's disallowed goal against Germany in Bloemfontein at the 2010 World Cup - but it was also an illustration of how they rode their luck for long periods in front of a predictably partisan home crowd.}}

A picture designed to decorate a volume or elucidate a literary work.

A calculated prevision of insurance premiums and returns (life insurance)"an illustration [...] is a computer projection of future premiums, cash values and death benefits based on the current dividend scale (whole life) or current interest rates and current costs of insurance (universal life)." taken from http://www.evaluatelifeinsurance.org