Representation means standing in for someone or something else, speaking or acting on their behalf. When a lawyer provides representation in court, she speaks for her client and makes arguments to protect their interests. Student council members provide representation for their classmates, bringing their ideas and concerns to school administrators.

The word also describes how people, groups, or ideas are portrayed or shown. When we talk about representation in movies or books, we mean which kinds of people appear in the stories and how they're depicted. A movie with good representation might include characters from different backgrounds, abilities, and experiences, showing a fuller picture of the real world.

In another sense, representation means something that stands for or symbolizes something else. A drawing is a representation of a real object. A map is a representation of actual terrain. Numbers and equations are representations of mathematical relationships.

The key idea across all these meanings is that one thing serves as a stand-in for another. Whether it's a person speaking for a group, an image depicting reality, or a symbol expressing an idea, representation creates a connection between what's present and what it represents.