Probation

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌpɹə(ʊ)ˈbeɪʃən/

Definitions

1. A period during which a person's abilities or behavior are tested to decide suitability ; a court-ordered phase when an offender is released under supervision instead of serving time
2. A designated time for assessing someone's performance or conduct before making a final decision ; a legal arrangement where a convict is monitored instead of imprisoned
3. A temporary time frame to observe and judge someone's fitness for a role or status ; a judicial system process allowing an offender to remain free under certain conditions

Etymology: The English noun "probation" began as a word about testing, not about offenders. Its root is the Latin verb "probare," meaning "to test, examine, or prove," which also gave English "prove," "probe," and "probate." The Latin noun "probatio" meant "a trying, inspection, or examination," and the sense of putting something to the test is what survives in the word's earliest English uses, which were about proving the worth or truth of a thing. The word reached English through Middle French and Old French, where "probacion" and "probation" carried the same idea of examination. Middle English then borrowed it as "probacioun," and the modern spelling settled later. Over time the testing idea narrowed. A person could be put to the test for suitability, and the trial period became the defining sense: a supervised time in which someone's conduct or performance is assessed before a final decision is made.

Synonyms: trial period, conditional release

Antonyms: incarceration, detention