Meanings
plural ubications · alternative vbication
- archaiccountableuncountableThe condition or fact of being in, or occupying, a certain place or position; whereness, ubiety; also, a location.
The terminus ad quem is already existing, and merely receives a new ubication.
1866, T.N. Harper, Peace through Truth, Ser. i., 2125 more examples
We conceiue these modifications if the thing, like substances; and…we call them by substantiue names, Whitenesse, Action, Vbication, Duration, &c.
1644, Digby, Nat. Soule, v., §9., 400Relations, Ubications, Duration, the vulgar Philosophy admits into the list of something.
1661, Glanvill, Van Dogm., 101They are accustomed to think that Ubication, or the being in a Place, is but an Accident to a Substance.
1699, 39 Art., Burnet, xxviii. (1700), 324Arriaga, who wrote in 1639,…suggests that the board affects the upper weight, which it does not touch, by its ubication, or whereness.
1837, Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sci., II., vi., ii., § 5., 45The constant identity of the ubication and direction of the lines [in Mars] proved their connection with the soil.
1892 August 5, Standard
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷ-
- Latinubicātus“located”
- New Latinubicātiō“location”
- Englishubication
Borrowed from New Latin ubicātiō (“location”) (whence Portuguese ubicação and Spanish ubicación; compare the inflected forms ubicātiōnis, ubicātiōnī, etc.) + -ion. Ubicātiō is derived from Latin ubicātus (“located”) + -iō (suffix forming abstract nouns); while ubicātus is a past participial form of ubicō (“to situate”) (found in British works from the 14th century), from ubi (“where”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷ- (primary interrogative root)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). By surface analysis, ubicate + -ion (ubicate is probably a back-formation from ubication). Later occurrences are influenced by Spanish ubicación, hence their use chiefly in Spanish contexts.
More words from New Latin, Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Hungarian hollét
- hollétcondition or fact of being in, or occupying, a certain place or position
Italian ubicazione
- ubicazionecondition or fact of being in, or occupying, a certain place or position
Portuguese ubicação
- ubicaçãocondition or fact of being in, or occupying, a certain place or position
Russian местоположение
- местоположение (mestopoloženije)condition or fact of being in, or occupying, a certain place or position
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with ubication
Cite this entry
ubication. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ubication
“ubication.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ubication. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ubication,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ubication.
Source: ubication on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.