Projection

How to spell projection

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce projection

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does projection mean?

1. nounAn estimate or forecast of a future trend based on present data.
2. nounThe act of casting an image, light, or sound onto a surface or into a space.
3. nounA part that sticks out or extends beyond a surface.
4. nounThe unconscious attribution of one's own feelings or traits to another person.

Projection in a sentence

• The sales projection for next quarter looked unrealistically high.

• The cinema upgraded its projection equipment to a digital system.

• A small stone projection on the cliff gave the climbers a handhold.

• The therapist suggested that his anger was a form of projection.

• The budget rested on a projection of steady population growth.

• A faint projection of the slides appeared on the office wall.

Where does projection come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb proicere, meaning 'to throw forth' or 'to cast forward', formed from pro- 'forward' and iacere 'to throw'. The Romans built the noun proiectio for the act of throwing something out, and that same iacere root gives English a whole family of relatives, including 'eject', 'inject', 'reject', and 'project' itself. English took the word in through Old French during the late Middle Ages, and by the 1400s 'projection' described a jutting-out part as well as the act of casting something forward. From there the meaning fanned out: a forecast 'thrown forward' into the future, an image 'cast' onto a screen, a map drawn by casting the globe onto a flat surface, and in psychology the casting of one's own feelings onto another person. The spelling keeps the ject spelling of its Latin root intact, so remembering 'throw forth' helps anchor the silent logic of the letters.

How the word is built

• pro- (forward)
• ject (from Latin iacere: to throw)
• -ion (noun of action)