visitation n 1: an annoying or frustrating or catastrophic event; "his mother-in-law's visits were a great trial for him"; "life is full of tribulations"; "a visitation of the plague" [syn: trial, tribulation, visitation] 2: any disaster or catastrophe; "a visitation of the plague" 3: an official visit for inspection or supervision; "the commissioner made visitations to all the precinct stations"; "the recent visitation of the bishop to his diocese"

visitation noun Date: 14th century 1. an instance of visiting: as a. an official visit (as for inspection) b. wake II,3 c. temporary custody of a child granted to a noncustodial parent <visitation rights> 2. a. a special dispensation of divine favor or wrath b. a severe trial ; affliction 3. capitalized the visit of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth recounted in Luke and celebrated July 2 by a Christian feast

visitation
n.
1 an official visit of inspection, esp. a bishop's examination of a church in his diocese.
2 trouble or difficulty regarded as a divine punishment.
3 (Visitation) a the visit of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth related in Luke 1:39-56. b the festival commemorating this on 2 July.
4 colloq. an unduly protracted visit or social call.
5 the boarding of a vessel belonging to another State to learn its character and purpose.
Phrases and idioms:
right of visitation the right to conduct a visitation of a vessel, not including the right of search.
Etymology: ME f. OF visitation or LL visitatio (as VISIT)

visitation (visitations) 1. A visitation is an event in which God or another non-human being seems to appear to someone or contact them. The young people have claimed almost daily visitations from the Virgin Mary. N-COUNT 2. People sometimes refer humorously to a visit from someone, especially from someone in authority, as a visitation. They had another visitation from Essex police. N-COUNT 3. Visitation is the act of officially visiting someone. (FORMAL) House-to-house visitation has been carried on, under the regulations of the General Board of Health... I had visitation rights. N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp

visitation ˌvɪzɪˈteɪʃən n. 1 an official visit of inspection, esp. a bishop's examination of a church in his diocese. 2 trouble or difficulty regarded as a divine punishment. 3 (Visitation) a the visit of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth related in Luke 1:39-56. b the festival commemorating this on 2 July. 4 colloq. an unduly protracted visit or social call. 5 the boarding of a vessel belonging to another State to learn its character and purpose. øright of visitation the right to conduct a visitation of a vessel, not including the right of search. [ME f. OF visitation or LL visitatio (as VISIT)]

Visitation \Vis`it*a"tion\, n. [L. visitatio: cf. F. visitation.] 1. The act of visiting, or the state of being visited; access for inspection or examination. Nothing but peace and gentle visitation. --Shak. 2. Specifically: The act of a superior or superintending officer who, in the discharge of his office, visits a corporation, college, etc., to examine into the manner in which it is conducted, and see that its laws and regulations are duly observed and executed; as, the visitation of a diocese by a bishop. 3. The object of a visit. [Obs.] ``O flowers, . . . my early visitation and my last.'' --Milton. 4. (Internat. Law) The act of a naval commander who visits, or enters on board, a vessel belonging to another nation, for the purpose of ascertaining her character and object, but without claiming or exercising a right of searching the vessel. It is, however, usually coupled with the right of search (see under Search), visitation being used for the purpose of search. 5. Special dispensation; communication of divine favor and goodness, or, more usually, of divine wrath and vengeance; retributive calamity; retribution; judgment. What will ye do in the day of visitation? --Isa. x. 3. 6. (Eccl.) A festival in honor of the visit of the Virgin Mary to Elisabeth, mother of John the Baptist, celebrated on the second of July. The Order of the Visitation of Our Lady (R. C. Ch.), a religious community of nuns, founded at Annecy, in Savoy, in 1610, and in 1808 established in the United States. In America these nuns are devoted to the education of girls.

VISITATION viz-i-ta'-shun, vis-(pequddah; episkope): In Biblical writings, the divine investigation or inspection of men's character and deeds with a view to apportioning to them their due lot, whether of reward or of chastisement; divine dispensation of mercy or of punishment. (1) In a general sense: "Visited after the visitation of all men" (Nu 16:29), i.e. in natural death, the usual lot of men, as opposed to a calamitous death; "She shall have fruit in the visitation of souls" (The Wisdom of Solomon 3:13 the King James Version), i.e. in the time of divine judgment. So Sirach 18:20 and perhaps 1Pe 2:12. (2) In a good sense, of God's care, providence and mercy: "Thy visitation (the Revised Version margin "care") hath preserved my spirit" (Job 10:12). So Lu 19:44, and, according to some, 1Pe 2:12 (see above). (3) Most frequently in an evil sense, of calamity or distress viewed as divine punishment: "What will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far?" (Isa 10:3). So Jer 8:12; 10:15; 11:23; 23:12; 46:21; 48:44; 50:27; 51:18; Ho 9:7; Mic 7:4; The Wisdom of Solomon 14:11. D. Miall Edwards

visitation n. 1. Dispensation (especially of retributive evil), calamity, disaster, affliction, misfortune, trial, blow, stroke, trouble, hardship, ill-luck, ill-fortune, infliction, retribution. 2. (Law.) Visiting (in order to examine), inspection.

visitation ˌvɪzɪˈteɪʃən n. 1 staying, calling, visiting, sojourning, stopping (over): The father has visitation rights to his children on weekends. 2 affliction, ordeal, trial, punishment, disaster, catastrophe, cataclysm, calamity, tragedy, curse, scourge, blight, plague, pestilence: In the story, the tyrant succumbed finally to a visitation from the Almighty.

138 Moby Thesaurus words for "visitation": Jacksonian epilepsy, Rolandic epilepsy, abdominal epilepsy, access, acquired epilepsy, activated epilepsy, affect epilepsy, affliction, akinetic epilepsy, apoplexy, arrest, attack, autonomic epilepsy, bane, blight, blockage, bugbear, burden, calamity, call, calling, calvary, cardiac epilepsy, cataclysm, catastrophe, clonic spasm, clonus, convulsion, cortical epilepsy, cramp, cross, crucible, crushing burden, curse, cursive epilepsy, death, destruction, disaster, disease, diurnal epilepsy, duty visit, eclampsia, epilepsia, epilepsia gravior, epilepsia major, epilepsia minor, epilepsia mitior, epilepsia nutans, epilepsia tarda, epilepsy, evil, examination, falling sickness, fit, focal epilepsy, formal visit, frenzy, grand mal, grievance, harm, haute mal, hysterical epilepsy, ictus, infliction, inspection, larval epilepsy, laryngeal epilepsy, laryngospasm, latent epilepsy, lockjaw, mad round, matutinal epilepsy, menstrual epilepsy, mischance, musicogenic epilepsy, myoclonous epilepsy, nemesis, nocturnal epilepsy, occlusion, open wound, ordeal, overhaul, overhauling, paroxysm, perlustration, perusal, pest, pestilence, petit mal, physiologic epilepsy, plague, psychic epilepsy, psychomotor epilepsy, punishment, quality control, reflex epilepsy, required visit, review, rotatoria, run-through, running sore, scan, scourge, scrutiny, seizure, sensory epilepsy, serial epilepsy, social call, social round, social whirl, sojourning, spasm, staying, stoppage, stroke, study, survey, tardy epilepsy, tetanus, tetany, thorn, throes, thromboembolism, thrombosis, tonic epilepsy, tonic spasm, torment, torsion spasm, tragedy, traumatic epilepsy, trial, tribulation, trismus, ucinate epilepsy, vexation, visit, visiting, woe

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