Probation

How to spell probation

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce probation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does probation mean?

1. nounA fixed period during which a new employee or member is observed and tested before being confirmed in the role.
2. nounA court-ordered period of supervision in the community, served instead of or after a custodial sentence.

Probation in a sentence

• The new analyst passed her three-month probation without any concerns.

• The judge placed him on two years of probation rather than sending him to prison.

• Staff on probation are not yet entitled to the full benefits package.

• Breaking the terms of probation can lead to immediate arrest.

Where does probation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin probatio, meaning 'a testing' or 'proof', which was formed from the verb probare 'to test, examine, or prove good'. That verb in turn came from probus, meaning 'good, upright, or honest', so at the root the idea is one of demonstrating worth by being put to the test. English took the word in the late 1300s, partly through Old French probacion, and it first carried the sense of a trial or examination of someone's character, often in a religious context where a novice was tested before being fully admitted to an order. From there the meaning broadened into the modern senses of a trial period at work and, later, the supervised release of an offender as an alternative to imprisonment. The same probare root survives in everyday relatives like 'prove', 'probe', and 'approve', and remembering that the spelling carries a single b followed by -ation, mirroring 'probe', helps keep it straight.

How the word is built

• prob- (from Latin probare: to test, prove)
• -ation (noun of action/state)