Meaning & use
annotation
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Meanings
nouncountable
A short note added to a text, picture, or other material to explain or comment on part of it.
Grammar: Countable for each note, uncountable for the practice.
Patterns
- an annotation on something
- an annotation to something
The teacher's annotations in the margin helped me improve my essay.
The edition includes helpful annotations for each poem.
Add an annotation next to the unclear sentence.
noununcountable
The act or practice of adding such notes.
Grammar: Often discussed in study skills: annotation of a text.
Patterns
- the annotation of something
Annotation is a useful reading strategy.
The annotation of old manuscripts takes years.
She spent the evening on annotation of the report.
nouncountablecomputingtechnical
In computing and science, a label or tag attached to data or code that describes it.
Grammar: In programming it is a metadata marker, such as a Java annotation.
Patterns
- an annotation for something
Each image in the dataset has an annotation naming the objects in it.
The code uses an annotation to mark the test methods.
Researchers added gene annotations to the sequence.
Word forms
| plural | annotations |
|---|
Common combinations
- add an annotation
- Please add an annotation to explain this figure.
- margin annotation
- Her margin annotations filled the page.
- detailed annotation
- The edition includes detailed annotation.
- annotation tool
- The class used an online annotation tool.
- in the annotations
- You can find the sources in the annotations.
Synonyms and how they differ
- note
- Note is a general word for any short written remark, while annotation is a note attached to a specific passage.
- comment
- Comment can be spoken or written and need not be attached to a text, unlike annotation.
- footnote
- A footnote sits at the bottom of a page, while annotation can appear anywhere.
- gloss
- Gloss is a short explanation of a hard word or phrase, narrower than annotation.
Word family
Commonly confused: annotation or notation?
annotation vs notation
Notation is a system of symbols, such as in music or math, whereas an annotation is an added note.
Practice
The student wrote a short ___ beside the difficult line to help her remember its meaning.
Choose one answer.
An annotation is a note attached to a text. Notation is a system of symbols, so it does not describe a single explanatory note.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “annotation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.