projection

[ pruh-jek-shuhn ]
See synonyms for projection on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a projecting or protruding part.

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

  1. a causing to jut or protrude.

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

  3. 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.

  4. Photography.

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

    • an image so reproduced.

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

  6. something that is so visualized and regarded.

  7. calculation of some future thing: They fell short of their projection for the rate of growth.

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

  9. Psychology.

    • 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.

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

  10. the act of planning or scheming.

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

Origin of projection

1
First recorded in 1470–80; from Latin prōjectiōn- (stem of prōjectiō ) “a throwing forward”; see project, -ion

Other words for projection

Other words from projection

  • pro·jec·tion·al [pruh-jek-shuh-nl], /prəˈdʒɛk ʃə nl/, adjective
  • non·pro·jec·tion, noun
  • self-pro·jec·tion, noun

Words Nearby projection

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use projection in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for projection

projection

/ (prəˈdʒɛkʃən) /


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

  2. an object or part that juts out

  1. 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

  2. a scheme or plan

  3. a prediction based on known evidence and observations

    • the process of showing film on a screen

    • the image or images shown

  4. psychol

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

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

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

Derived forms of projection

  • projectional, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for projection

projection

[ prə-jĕkshən ]


  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. See more at azimuthal projection conic projection cylindrical projection.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.