projection

UK: /prəˈdʒɛkʃ^ən/ US: /prəˈdʒɛkʃən/ ,(prə jek′shən)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

pro•jec•tion /prəˈdʒɛkʃən/   n. 

1. [uncountable] the act of projecting.
2. [countable] something that sticks out or stands out over an edge.
3. an estimate of some future cost, amount, or the like:
   [countable] sales projections for next year.
See -jec-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

pro•jec•tion  (prə jek′shən), n. 

1. a projecting or protruding part.
2. the state or fact of jutting out or protruding.
3. a causing to jut or protrude.
4. the act, process, or result of projecting.
5. Geography [Cartog.] a systematic construction of lines drawn on a plane surface representative of and corresponding to the meridians and parallels of the curved surface of the earth or celestial sphere.
6. Photography
   • the act of reproducing on a surface, by optical means, a remote image on a film, slide, etc.
   • an image so reproduced.
7. the act of visualizing and regarding an idea or the like as an objective reality.
8. something that is so visualized and regarded.
9. calculation of some future thing:
   They fell short of their projection for the rate of growth.
10. the act of communicating distinctly and forcefully to an audience.
11. Psychology
    • the tendency to ascribe to another person feelings, thoughts, or attitudes present in oneself, or to regard external reality as embodying such feelings, thoughts, etc., in some way.
    • [Psychoanal.] such an ascription relieving the ego of a sense of guilt or other intolerable feeling.
12. the act of planning or scheming.
13. [Alchemy.] the casting of the powder of philosophers' stone upon metal in fusion, to transmute it into gold or silver.

• Latin prōjectiōn- (stem of prōjectiō) a throwing forward. See project, -ion
• 1470–80;

pro•jec•tion•al  (prə jek′shə nl), adj.  Synonyms

• 1. jut, overhang, protrusion.
• 9. prediction.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

projection / prəˈdʒɛkʃən/ noun

1. the act of projecting or the state of being projected
2. an object or part that juts out
3. See map projection
4. the representation of a line, figure, or solid on a given plane as it would be seen from a particular direction or in accordance with an accepted set of rules
5. a scheme or plan
6. a prediction based on known evidence and observations
7. the process of showing film on a screen
8. the image or images shown
9. the belief, esp in children, that others share one's subjective mental life
10. the process of projecting one's own hidden desires and impulses
    See also defence mechanism

proˈjectional adjective