representation

See also: représentation

English

Alternative forms

• repræsentation (archaic)

Etymology

From Old French representacion, from Latin repraesentatio.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən
• IPA^(key): /ˌɹɛp.ɹə.zɛn.ˈteɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

representation (countable and uncountable, plural representations)

1. That which represents another.

   The Venus of Willendorf was an early representation of the female body.

2. (law) The lawyers and staff who argue on behalf of another in court.

   People who cannot afford representation are eligible for government assistance.

3. (politics) The ability to elect a representative to speak on one's behalf in government; the role of this representative in government.

   The lack of representation in the British parliament was one of the main factors behind the American Revolution.

4. (mathematics) An object that describes an abstract group in terms of linear transformations of vector spaces; (more formally) a homomorphism from a group on a vector space to the general linear group (group of all bijective linear transformations) on the space.
5. A figure, image or idea that substitutes reality.
6. A theatrical performance.

Quotations

• 1637, Henry Lawes, dedication to Lawes’s edition of Milton’s 1634 masque, Comus, final sentence

  Live, ſweet Lord, to be the honour of your name, and receive this as your own, from the hands of him, who hath by many favours beene long obliged to your moſt honoured parents, and as in this repræſentation your attendant Thyrſis, ſo now in all reall expreſſion
  Your faithfull and moſt humble Servant,
  H. Lawes.^d

Synonyms

• (image, form): likeness

Derived terms

• faithful representation (mathematics)
• representation space

Related terms

• represent
• representable
• representamen
• representant

Translations

people who speak on behalf of another

• Dutch: vertegenwoordiging (nl)

• Spanish: representación (es) f

that which represents another

• Catalan: representació (ca) f
• Czech: reprezentace (cs) f
• Dutch: weergave (nl)
• Galician: representación (gl)
• Georgian: წარმომადგენლობა (c̣armomadgenloba)
• Greek: αναπαράσταση (el) f (anaparástasi)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: representasjon m

  Nynorsk: representasjon m

• Persian: نمایش‏‎ (fa) (namāyeš)
• Portuguese: representação (pt) f
• Romanian: reprezentare (ro) f
• Spanish: representación (es) f
• Vietnamese: sự đại diện

a figure, image or idea that substitutes reality

• Czech: vyobrazení n
• Dutch: weergave (nl)
• French: représentation (fr)
• Galician: representación (gl) f
• Greek: αναπαράσταση (el) f (anaparástasi)
• Italian: rappresentazione (it)

• Persian: نمایش‏‎ (fa) (namāyeš)
• Portuguese: representação (pt) f
• Romanian: înfățișare (ro) f, închipuire (ro) f, reprezentare (ro) f
• Spanish: representación (es)
• Tagalog: talilahat

theatrical performance

• Czech: představení (cs) n
• French: représentation (fr) f
• Galician: representación (gl) f
• Georgian: წარმოდგენა (c̣armodgena)
• Greek: παράσταση (el) f (parástasi)

• Persian: نمایش‏‎ (fa) (namāyeš)
• Polish: przedstawienie (pl) n
• Romanian: reprezentare (ro) f
• Spanish: representación (es) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Estonian: esitus
• Finnish: esitys (1-3)
• French: représentation (fr)
• German: Repräsentation f, Darstellung (de) f

• Polish: reprezentacja f (1)
• Portuguese: representação (pt)
• Spanish: representación (es) f

Further reading

• representation in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• representation in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• repenetrations