Dictionary

probation en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌpɹoʊˈbeɪʃən/ (US)
• /ˌpɹə(ʊ)ˈbeɪʃən/ (UK)
• (US) audio

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English probacioun, from Middle French probation, from Old French probacion, from Latin probatio (“a trying, inspection, examination”), from probare, past participle probatus (“to test, examine”); see probate, probe, prove.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A period of time when a person occupies a position only conditionally and may be removed if certain conditions are not met.
   • You'll be on probation for first six months. After that, if you work out, they'll hire you permanently.
2. (countable, uncountable) A type of sentence where convicted criminals are permitted to continue living in a community but will automatically be sent to jail if they violate certain conditions.
   • He got two years probation for robbery.
3. (countable, uncountable) A testing period of time.
   • A probation of long and shameful years must be gone through; each one with the endurance more bitter, suffering yet more intolerable, before the debtor can arrive at that system of reckless evasion which is the last stage of poverty. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 109–110:
4. (archaic, countable, uncountable) The act of testing; proof.
   • Such assessment of others' organizational morality is a crucial aspect of a more general set of probations that are intrinsic to managerial work. 1988, Robert Jackall, “Chapter 1: Moral Probations, Old and New”, in Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers, Twentieth Anniversary edition, →ISBN, page 13:
   • And I shall proceed to consider the testimony of Experience, when I shall have first advertis'd You, that if Men were as perfectly rational as 'tis to be wish'd they were, this sensible way of Probation would be as needless as 'tis wont to be imperfect. 1661, Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist, page 20:
   • And then it started like a guilty thing / Upon a fearful summons. I have heard, / The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, / Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat / Awake the god of day; and, at his warning, / Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air / The extravagant and erring spirit hies / To his confine: and of the truth herein / This present object made probation. c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], lines 148-156:

Forms

Deriveds

probationist · probational · probationary · academic probation · come on vacation, leave on probation · probation officer · probationer · probationship

Relateds

probate · probe · prove

Translations (51)

bg условна присъда (type of sentence) · sv praktisk arbetslivsorientering (period of conditional employment or engagement) · pl staż (period of conditional employment or engagement) · cs zkušební doba (period of conditional employment or engagement) · ms percubaan (period of conditional employment or engagement) · es libertad condicional (type of sentence) · cs podmínka (type of sentence) · de Probezeit (period of conditional employment or engagement) · ja 保護観察 (type of sentence) · da prøveløsladelse (type of sentence) · cs podmíněný trest (type of sentence) · nl proefverlof (type of sentence) · eo provizora libero (type of sentence) · nl proeftijd (period of conditional employment or engagement) · ro probațiune (type of sentence) · pdt Proowtiet (period of conditional employment or engagement) · ko 보호관찰 (type of sentence) · pl wyrok w zawieszeniu (type of sentence) · ms percubaan (type of sentence) · el δοκιμασία (period of conditional employment or engagement) · pt contrato de experiência (period of conditional employment or engagement) · bg стаж (period of conditional employment or engagement) · hu próbaidő (period of conditional employment or engagement) · de Bewährung (type of sentence) · it libertà vigilata (type of sentence) · pt período de experiência (period of conditional employment or engagement) · sh uvjetna (type of sentence) · da prøveperiode (period of conditional employment or engagement) · es periodo de prueba (period of conditional employment or engagement) · cmn 试用期 (period of conditional employment or engagement) · fi ehdollinen vankeusrangaistus (type of sentence) · pl okres próbny (period of conditional employment or engagement) · hy փորձաշրջան (period of conditional employment or engagement) · cmn 緩刑 /缓刑 (type of sentence) · ja 保護観察 (period of conditional employment or engagement) · da prøvetid (period of conditional employment or engagement) · th ทดลองงาน (period of conditional employment or engagement) · el αναστολή υπό επιτήρηση (type of sentence) · fr liberté conditionnelle (type of sentence) · sh uvjetna kazna (type of sentence) · ru испыта́тельный срок (period of conditional employment or engagement) · mi poropeihana (type of sentence) · tr şartlı tahliye (type of sentence) · hu próbaidő (type of sentence) · fi ehdollinen (type of sentence) · fi koeaika (period of conditional employment or engagement) · ro perioadă de probațiune (type of sentence) · pt condicional (type of sentence) · ro perioadă de probă (period of conditional employment or engagement) · it messa in prova (type of sentence) · fr période d'essai (period of conditional employment or engagement)