Origin: Latin suffix -tion
Quotation has 5 different meanings across 1 category:
a short note recognizing a source of information or of a quoted passage
"the student's essay failed to list several important citations"
"the acknowledgments are usually printed at the front of a book"
"the article includes mention of similar clinical cases"
a statement of the current market price of a security or commodity
"The trader checked the latest quotation to see if it was time to sell her shares."
the practice of quoting from books or plays etc.
"since he lacks originality he must rely on quotation"
A fragment of a human expression that is repeated by somebody else. Most often a quotation is taken from literature or speech, but also scenes from a movie, elements of a painting, a passage of music, etc., may be quoted.
"The student opened her essay with a famous quotation about resilience to inspire the class."
In plain English: A quotation is when you repeat someone else's exact words and put them inside quotes to show where they came from.
"The article included several interesting quotations from historical figures to support its main argument."
Usage: Use the singular form a quotation to refer to one specific excerpt and the plural quotations for multiple excerpts within an essay or article. Do not confuse this with "quote," which functions as both a verb meaning to cite someone and a noun that is often used interchangeably but typically implies direct speech rather than formal citation.
The word "quotation" comes from Medieval Latin quotātiō, originally meaning a quota or share. Its modern sense of a fragment of verbal expression likely developed in the 17th century from this root or directly from the verb "quote."