representations
- 1Plural of representation.
The gallery compared two very different representations of the same battle.
Maps are representations of a landscape rather than the landscape itself.
Note
The plural follows the countable uses of the noun: depictions, models, stand-ins. Mathematicians speak of the representations of a group or a Lie algebra, each a way the structure acts on a vector space. Representation in the media sense, meaning how a group appears on screen, is a mass noun and rarely pluralizes. The plural of complaint belongs to formal protests to an authority, a meaning the singular does not carry.
- 2Formal statements made to an authority in order to express discontent or objection.
The residents' association submitted formal representations to the planning authority opposing the development.
He made repeated representations to the ministry but received no reply.
Similarsubmissions, objections, protests, complaints, petitions
Note
Official complaint takes this plural-only form: one government makes representations to another concerning a matter in dispute. The usual verb is make, the authority follows to, and the grievance follows concerning. There is no singular for this meaning, so even a single protest is a set of representations. The word frames the objection as a statement rather than a demand, which suits diplomatic and administrative settings.
representations is a form of representation
representation, noun: Something that stands for, symbolizes, or stands in place of another thing. Full entry
- Forms
- representationrepresentations plural
- Spelling
- representation → representations: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /z/.
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with representations, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.