registration
Pluralregistrations
- 1The act of signing up or enrolling for something.
Registration for the conference closed once all the seats were filled.
Online registration made joining the program much faster this year.
Similarenrollment, signup
- 2A document or form that officially records or establishes something.
The clerk stamped each registration before filing it away.
Bring your vehicle registration when you renew the license plate.
Similarcertificate, document
- 3Ellipsis of registration number.
A witness gave the registration to the officers at the scene.
She memorized the registration of the car that nearly hit her.
Note
In British speech the letters and numbers on a car's plates are often just the registration. If someone asks whether you got their registration, they want those characters, not paperwork. The full form is registration number. Car registration can also name the official document, so context has to tell the two apart.
- 4The place where guests register, especially at a hotel or event.
Registration is located near the main entrance, just past the elevators.
She left her coat at registration while she found her seat.
Note
A place name that, like reception, usually goes without an article: you check in at registration, and the elevators are just past registration. The word that names the act of signing up here names the desk where it happens. In directions it behaves like lobby or front desk rather than like a process, and it takes no plural.
- 5The accurate alignment of colors or other elements in a printing process.
Like stacking transparent sheets so every image lines up perfectly.
Misaligned plates threw off the registration, leaving white gaps between colors.
Good registration ensures each ink layer sits exactly where it should.
Similaralignment
- 6In organ playing, the art of choosing which stops to use and how to combine them.
Like an artist choosing colors from a palette to set the mood of a painting.
The organist's registration brought out the melody over the softer accompaniment.
Subtle registration shaped the mood of each verse in the hymn.
Note
An organ's stops are also called registers, and registration (register plus -ation) is the choosing and combining of them. As a countable noun it names one particular setting, so an organist might choose a different registration for each verse. As an uncountable noun it is the skill itself, judged by how well the chosen sounds suit the music.
Practice
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Origin
Formed from "register" combined with the suffix "-ation".