quotation

[ kwoh-tey-shuhn ]

noun

1. something that is quoted; a passage quoted from a book, speech, etc.:

   a speech full of quotations from Lincoln's letters.

   Synonyms: selection, citation, extract

2. the act or practice of quoting.
3. Commerce.
   1. the statement of the current or market price of a commodity or security.
   2. the price so stated.

quotation

/ kwəʊˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. a phrase or passage from a book, poem, play, etc, remembered and spoken, esp to illustrate succinctly or support a point or an argument
2. the act or habit of quoting from books, plays, poems, etc
3. commerce a statement of the current market price of a security or commodity
4. an estimate of costs submitted by a contractor to a prospective client; tender
5. stock exchange registration granted to a company or governmental body, enabling the shares and other securities of the company or body to be officially listed and traded
6. printing a large block of type metal that is less than type-high and is used to fill up spaces in type pages

Other Words From

• prequo·tation noun
• self-quo·tation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of quotation¹

1525–35; 1810–15 quotation fordef 3; < Medieval Latin quotātiōn- (stem of quotātiō ), equivalent to quotāt ( us ) (past participle of quotāre; quote ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

Opening with a quotation from Henry David Thoreau’s 1863 essay “Life Without Principle” including the lines “Let us consider the way in which we spend our lives / This world is a place of business / What an infinite bustle,” the film “La Cocina” sets out to fully examine those concepts, and how work can take over one’s life and sweep away all too many other concerns.

From Los Angeles Times

It is a world of cinematic quotation, in which “Women in Love” is juxtaposed with the gory action-comedy antics of “The Suicide Squad” and a sequence from Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” is reenacted for resonant kicks.

From Los Angeles Times

On posters lining the walls of Trump's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, one quotation stood out for capturing Trump's self-styled image as the selfless victim of a vast leftwing witch hunt who's vowed to fight to "obliterate the deep state" he claims is behind it all.

From Salon

Here is the now infamous quotation: “I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black?”

From Salon

In a picture, shown to BBC Wales by the NSS, one of the wall displays shows a map of the world under a quotation from the Apostle Paul which says: "From one man God made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole Earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands."

From BBC

Related Words

• excerpt
• passage
• quote
• reference