Meaning & use

annotation

noun·Academic

A short note added to a text, image, or document to explain, comment on, or clarify part of it.

See it in a sentence

The teacher's annotations in the margin helped explain the poem's difficult imagery.

Each map includes annotations describing the historical significance of key sites.

A note on using this word

Annotation is common in academic and editorial contexts, referring to added explanatory notes rather than the main text itself.

Words with a similar meaning

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