Noun

(en noun)

The act of observing, and the fact of being observed.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud,

* {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April, author=(Jeremy Bernstein)

, volume=100, issue=2, page=146, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= A Palette of Particles , passage=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.}}

The act of noting and recording some event; or the record of such noting.

A remark or comment.

* Shakespeare

That's a foolish observation .

* Alexander Pope

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

A judgement based on observing.

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

* Jeremy Taylor

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

Noun

(diagnoses)

(medicine) The identification of the nature and cause of an illness.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01

, author=Philip E. Mirowski , title=Harms to Health from the Pursuit of Profits , volume=100, issue=1, page=87 , magazine= citation , passage=In an era when political leaders promise deliverance from decline through America’s purported preeminence in scientific research, the news that science is in deep trouble in the United States has been as unwelcome as a diagnosis of leukemia following the loss of health insurance.}}

The identification of the nature and cause of something (of any nature).

* Compton Reade

The quick eye for effects, the clear diagnosis of men's minds, and the love of epigram.

* J. Payn

My diagnosis of his character proved correct.

(taxonomy) A written description of a species or other taxon serving to distinguish that species from all others. Especially, a description written in Latin and published.

*

The repeated exposure, over decades, to most taxa here treated has resulted in repeated modifications of both diagnoses and discussions, as initial ideas of the various taxa underwent—often repeated—conceptual modification.