equation
noun
Simple meaning
A mathematical statement that two expressions are equal.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihkwayzhuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪkˈweɪʒən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
mathematics
A mathematical statement that two expressions are equal
mathematics
The act of regarding as equal
The act or process of equating two or more things, or the state of those things being equal (that is, identical).
astronomy
A small correction to observed values to remove the effects of systematic errors in an observation.
A state of being essentially equal or equivalent; equally balanced
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A mathematical statement that two expressions are equal
Used this way, equation is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a mathematical use: it is defined precisely and belongs to working with figures and calculations rather than to ordinary conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Mathematics
- Geometry
- Academic writing
- Education/classroom
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use equation
- “The math teacher wrote a complex equation on the whiteboard for us.”
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.