Noun

(en noun)

Close observation of an individual or group; person or persons under suspicion.

Continuous monitoring of disease occurrence for example.

(military, espionage) Systematic observation of places and people by visual, aural, electronic, photographic or other means.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-12-14

, author=Simon Jenkins, authorlink=Simon Jenkins , title=We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys , volume=188, issue=2, page=23 , date=2012-12-21 , magazine= citation , passage=The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance , intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty.}}

(legal) In criminal law, an investigation process by which police gather evidence about crimes, or suspected crime, through continued observation of persons or places.

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.