projection

American  

[pruh-jek-shuhn] / prəˈdʒɛk ʃən /

noun

1. a projecting or protruding part.

   Synonyms:

   jut, protrusion, overhang

2. the state or fact of jutting out or protruding.

3. a causing to jut or protrude.

4. the act, process, or result of projecting.

5. Also called map projection.  Cartography. a systematic construction of lines drawn on a plane surface representative of and corresponding to the meridians and parallels of the curved surface of the earth or celestial sphere.

6. Photography.

   1. the act of reproducing on a surface, by optical means, a remote image on a film, slide, etc.

   2. an image so reproduced.

7. the act of visualizing and regarding an idea or the like as an objective reality.

8. something that is so visualized and regarded.

9. calculation of some future thing.

   They fell short of their projection for the rate of growth.

   Synonyms:

   extrapolation, forecast, prediction

10. the act of communicating distinctly and forcefully to an audience.

11. Psychology.

    1. the tendency to ascribe to another person feelings, thoughts, or attitudes present in oneself, or to regard external reality as embodying such feelings, thoughts, etc., in some way.

    2. Psychoanalysis. such an ascription relieving the ego of a sense of guilt or other intolerable feeling.

12. the act of planning or scheming.

13. Alchemy. the casting of the powder of philosophers' stone upon metal in fusion, to transmute it into gold or silver.

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projection British  

/ prəˈdʒɛkʃən /

noun

1. the act of projecting or the state of being projected

2. an object or part that juts out

3. See map projection

4. the representation of a line, figure, or solid on a given plane as it would be seen from a particular direction or in accordance with an accepted set of rules

5. a scheme or plan

6. a prediction based on known evidence and observations

7. 1. the process of showing film on a screen

   2. the image or images shown

8. psychol

   1. the belief, esp in children, that others share one's subjective mental life

   2. the process of projecting one's own hidden desires and impulses See also defence mechanism

9. the mixing by alchemists of powdered philosopher's stone with molten base metals in order to transmute them into gold

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projection Scientific  

/ prə-jĕk′shən /

1. The image of a geometric figure reproduced on a line, plane, or surface.

2. A system of intersecting lines, such as the grid of a map, on which part or all of the globe or another spherical surface is represented as a plane surface.

3. See more at azimuthal projection conic projection cylindrical projection

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Other Word Forms

• nonprojection noun
• projectional adjective
• self-projection noun

Etymology

Origin of projection

First recorded in 1470–80; from Latin prōjectiōn- (stem of prōjectiō ) “a throwing forward”; project, -ion

Example Sentences

According to the ”flash” survey just completed, one-third of the economists said they would lower that projection by up to 0.249 percentage point and another third cut their estimates by up to 0.49 percentage point.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 2, 2026

Their median projection for 2027 also ticked up to 2.3%.

From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026

An alternative kind of venue is offered by Cosm, which emerged after a merger involving Evans & Sutherland, a company that developed digital projection technology widely used in planetariums and science centres.

From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026

Nicole Eun-Ju Bell’s video and projection designs subtly transpose the setting when, for instance, Umma meets up with her son at church.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2026

A cornice was merely a horizontal decorative projection.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Related Words

• calculation
• estimate
• estimation
• forecast