reservation - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle French reservation, equivalent to reserve +‎ -ation.

reservation (countable and uncountable, plural reservations)

  1. The act of reserving, withholding or keeping back.
    The committee authorised the reservation of funds.
    1. The practice of reserving part of the consecrated bread of the Eucharist for the communion of the sick.
    2. The act of the pope to reserve to himself the right to nominate to certain benefices.
  2. Something that is withheld or kept back.
  3. (often in the plural) A limiting qualification regarding certainty or risk; a doubt or concern.
    I have reservations about your intentions.
    I have some reservations about cosigning a loan for him.
    • 1992, Jonny Quest (video game review) in Your Sinclair (issue 75, page 16)
      Apart from the problemette with the punchy bits, I've got only one reservation with the game and that's that the tie-in element is a bit shaky to say the least.
  4. (US) A tract of land set apart by the US government for the use of a Native American people, such as the Hopi Reservation or the Navajo Nation's territory.
    Synonyms: reserve (Canada); res, rez (clippings), rezzy
  5. An arrangement by which accommodation or transport arrangements are secured in advance.
    I have a hotel reservation in the name of Mr Smith.
    • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:
      I haven't booked, so I don't have a clue as to whether the service will be busy or not. Supposedly, reservations are compulsory, but I want to find out what would happen if you just turn up.
  6. (UK) The area which separates opposing lanes of traffic on a divided motorway or dual carriageway.
    Synonyms: central reservation, median (US), median strip (US)
    Coordinate terms: safety island, traffic island
    A vehicle crashed through the central reservation into the path of oncoming traffic.
    • 2023 August 23, Chris Howe, “Green screen: HS2's route through the shires”, in RAIL, number 990, page 34:
      A three-lane motorway can be up to (or even more than) 35 metres wide, with a hard shoulder on either side and a central reservation.
  7. (India) The setting aside of a certain percentage of vacancies in government institutions for members of backward and underrepresented communities (defined primarily by caste and tribe).
  8. (law, politics) A power of an overseeing authority to suspend legislation in the jurisdiction being overseen pending the approval of a higher authority. Such as a provincial/state governor reserving a bill passed by the state/provincial legislature from assent, pending approval of the federal government; or a federal bill passed by federal parliament being reserved by the viceroy pending approval by the crown.
    Coordinate term: disallowance

act of withholding

limiting qualification — see also qualm

tract of land

arrangement by which something is secured in advance

area separating two lanes of opposite-direction traffic — see median strip

reservation f (plural reservations)

  1. reservation (limiting qualification)