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observe

verb

Simple meaning

To notice or view.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhbzurv

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IPA pronunciation (US)

əbˈzɝv

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitive

    To notice or view, especially carefully or with attention to detail.

  2. transitive

    To follow or obey the custom, practice, or rules (especially of a religion).

  3. transitive

    To take note of and celebrate (a holiday or similar occurrence), to keep; to follow (a type of time or calendar reckoning).

  4. intransitive

    To comment on something; to make an observation.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To notice or view, especially carefully or with attention to detail.

Used this way, observe is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It quietly approves while staying precise.

Emotional tone
Positive
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Gentle
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Careful and exacting
Usage feel
Precise and approving

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use observe

  • “She observed that his presentation took up too much time.”verb
  • “Please observe the reaction of these two chemicals.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

now observe

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • observernounInflected form

    A person who becomes aware (of things or events) through the senses.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • observationnounDerived noun

    The act of making and recording a measurement.

  • observancenounDerived noun

    The act of observing.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • observed firenounCompound term

    Fire for which the point of impact (the burst) can be seen by an observer.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • observatorynounRelated term

    A building designed and equipped to observe astronomical phenomena.

  • observer's meridiannounRelated term

    A meridian that passes through the observer's zenith.

  • unobserved firenounRelated term

    Fire for which the point of impact (the bursts) cannot be observed.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to notice or view or especially carefully

watchtake note

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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.