Wiktionary

quotation

For Wiktionary's use of quotations, see Wiktionary:Quotations

English

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A quotation of French text.

Etymology

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The obsolete sense of “quota”, from Medieval Latin quotatio, from Latin quotāre, is attested from the 15th century. The sense “fragment of verbal expression”, attested from the 17th century, may come from this source, or else from the verb quote +‎ -ation.[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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quotation (countable and uncountable, plural quotations)

  1. (countable) A fragment of a human expression that is repeated by somebody else, for example from literature or a famous speech.
    Synonyms: citation, cite, quote
    "Where they burn books, they will also burn people" is a famous quotation from Heinrich Heine.
  2. (uncountable) The act of quoting someone or something.
    Synonym: citation
    • 1868, S[amuel] W[hite] Baker, “Arrival at Metemma, or Gallabat”, in Exploration of the Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia. The Sources, Supply, and Overflow of the Nile; the Country, People, Customs, etc. […], Hartford, Conn.: […] O[rlando] D[wight] Case & Co., page 523:
      One of these preachers was a blacksmith, whose iron constitution had entirely given way, and the little strength that remained he exhausted in endless quotation of texts from the Bible.
    • 1905 December, H[enry] W[alcott] Boynton, “Books New and Old”, in The Atlantic Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume XCVI, number 6, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, section I, page 844, columns 1–2:
      Mr. [Augustine] Birrell has, as usual, quoted very liberally, and to excellent effect. Quotation is an art the difficulty of which may easily be underrated by paragraph-writers or by persons who do not write at all. You may say no end of wise things about a writer, and yet fail to convey a sense of the peculiar flavor for which you really value him. To insinuate a phrase or verse of our author into the midst of our own readable (because ephemeral) discourse, is all most of us may do, without giving our readers an unpalatable suspicion that they are being seduced into the perusal of a real author. Mr. Birrell quotes by the page, and we gratefully read every line because we are sure Mr. Birrell, at least, is incapable of asking us to read anything inconsequent or dull.
    • 1992, David Tsang, “UNG, Chinary”, in edited by Brian Morton and Pamela Collins, Contemporary Composers, Chicago, Ill., London: St. James Press, →ISBN, page 936, column 1:
      In his mature works, [Chinary] Ung pays regular homage to Cambodian music by evoking its ambience without resorting to quotation of specific Cambodian melodies.
  3. (countable) A price that has been quoted for buying or selling.
    Let's get a quotation for repairing the roof before we decide whether it's worth doing.
  4. (uncountable) The act of setting a price.
  5. (countable, obsolete) A quota, a share.[2]

Synonyms

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Hyponyms

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Coordinate terms

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(fragment of a human expression):

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  • “quotation”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “quotation”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ “Quotation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
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