Presentation

How to spell presentation

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce presentation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does presentation mean?

1. nounA spoken talk or visual display given to an audience to share information or ideas.
2. nounA formal ceremony or act of giving an award, gift, or document to someone.

Presentation in a sentence

• The sales team rehearsed the presentation before the client meeting.

• The presentation of the long-service award took place at the annual dinner.

• Her slides made the quarterly presentation easy to follow.

• Staff gathered for the presentation of a retirement gift to their manager.

Where does presentation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin praesentationem, a noun built on the verb praesentare, which meant 'to place before' or 'to show'. That verb in turn came from praesens, 'being at hand' or 'present', formed from prae 'before' and esse 'to be'. English took the word in through Old French presentation during the late medieval period, originally in the sense of formally putting someone or something forward, as when a candidate was presented to a bishop. Over time it broadened from this ceremonial sense of offering something into the modern meaning of a structured talk or display delivered to an audience. The single 's' and the smooth -tation ending are the spelling points to watch, since the unstressed vowels invite guesswork; remembering the base word 'present' keeps the spelling on track.

How the word is built

• present (from praesentare: to place before)
• -ation (noun of action)