installation
Pluralinstallations
- 1The act of putting equipment or software in place and setting it up so it is ready to use.
The installation of the solar panels required two trained technicians.
Improper installation of the gas line caused the leak.
Similarfitting, setup, placement, mounting, assembly
Oppositeremoval, dismantling
Note
The act the other senses grow from: install plus -ation, by way of Middle French installation and Medieval Latin installātiō. Like many -ation nouns, it names both the doing and what the doing leaves behind, and the finished system is the result of this act. As the act, it usually takes of before the thing installed: the installation of new software, of solar panels, of a gas line.
- 2A complete system of machines, equipment, and fittings set up and arranged for practical use, as in electric lighting or power transmission.
The building's electrical installation handles heavy machine loads safely.
The plant's power installation was upgraded to meet new demand.
- 3
- 4A three-dimensional artwork created by arranging objects and materials within a space, designed for viewers to enter or move through.
The museum's latest installation occupies an entire gallery floor.
Her installation uses mirrors and recorded sound to disorient viewers.
Similarexhibit, artwork, piece, work
Note
Each work is an installation, and the genre it belongs to is installation art. In everyday use the work often comes with a qualifier that marks it as art rather than equipment, as in a modern art installation or the museum's latest installation. The name carries the word's core idea of something set up in place from machinery and fittings to a room or gallery.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle French installation, which came from Medieval Latin installātiō. It can be analyzed as install plus the suffix -ation.