Word.ws English Dictionary

percontation

Syllables: per·con·ta·tion/ˌpɜːkɒnˈteɪʃn̩/US/ˌpɝkənˈteɪʃ(ə)n/

percontation noun: an enquiry.

Noun

percontation (plural percontations)

  1. (formal, obsolete, rare) an enquiry
    • Percontation. An enquiry.[1623, H[enry] C[ockeram], “Percontation”, in The English Dictionarie: or, An Interpreter of Hard English VVords. […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Edmund Weauer, […], →OCLC, 1st part […]...
    • [Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, "Percontation" percontation noun per·con·ta·tion ˌpərˌkän‧ˈtāshən plural -s archaic : an act or process of questioning : inquiry]
  2. (formal, obsolete, rare) A question which cannot properly be given a one-word answer like “yes” or “no”.
    • Percontation is a thing for which we cannot anſwer ſignificantly, as in Interrogation, yes: but as thus, he dwelleth in ſuch a place.[1656, Tho[mas] Stanley, “[Zeno.] Chap[ter] XVIII. Of Dicibles.”, in The History of Philosophy, the Second Volume, volume II, London: […] Humphrey Moseley, and Thomas Dring: […], →OCLC, 8th part...
    • Of Dicibles (λεκτῶν) ſome are Defective, which have an imperfect Enunciation, as writeth; others are Perfect, as compleating the Sentence; ſome of which compleat it without Affirmation or Negation, Verity or Falſity, as in Interrogations, Percontations, Imperative Expreſſions, Adjurations...1702, “The Life of Zeno”, in The Lives of the Ancient Philosophers, Containing an Account of Their Several Sects, Doctrines, Actions, and Remarkable Sayings. […], London: […] John Nicholson, […], and...

Examples of percontation in a sentence

  • It is, therefore, to be so pronounced as that the first clause may be a percontation, and the second an interrogation.1844, S[amuel] R[offey] Maitland, “No. II”, in The Dark Ages; a Series of Essays Intended to Illustrate the State of Religion and...
  • His [Denis Rearden's] question, or motion, or whatever it was, only fulfils the type of the usual percontations in Parliament.1868 May 30, “The Manners of Parliament”, in The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science, and Art, volume 25, number 657, London...

Forms of percontation

pluralpercontations
alternative formpercunctation

Origin of percontation

Learned borrowing from Latin percontatiō (“inquiry, questioning”), from percontor (“to interrogate, investigate”) + -tiō.

Words that rhyme with percontation

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about percontation

What does percontation mean?
Percontation means an enquiry.
How do you use percontation in a sentence?
It is, therefore, to be so pronounced as that the first clause may be a percontation, and the second an interrogation.
What part of speech is percontation?
Percontation is a noun.
How do you pronounce percontation?
Percontation is pronounced /ˌpɜːkɒnˈteɪʃn̩/ (UK).
What is the plural of percontation?
The plural of percontation is percontations.

Words near percontation in the dictionary

  1. percolozoans
  2. percomorph
  3. percomorphacean
  4. percomorphaceans
  5. percomorphs
  6. percontation
  7. percontations
  8. percontative
  9. percontatorial
  10. perconvol
  11. percophid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: percontation (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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