Generally, it's used to denote the Rotation of movement of a body in such a way that any given point of that body remains at a constant distance from some other fixed point

More specifically, it's applicable to:

• The farming pratice of crop rotation.
• The business management approach of job rotation.
• The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service monitors the Earth's rotation.

• The differential rotation of objects.
• The Galaxy rotation problem concening discrepancy between the observed rotation.
• The optical rotation polarization.
• The reverse rotation effect being an optical illusion.
• The rotation curve for the variation in a circular orbital.
• The synchronous rotation of orbiting bodies.

• The axis, such that a geometric figure can be rotated.
• A coordinate rotation is the transformation of coordinate systems.
• An improper rotation producing an inversion.
• The symmetry of an operation which rotates an object using a point on that object as its center.

• An order operation that may be performed on a set of pitcheses or pitch classes, where the last member is placed first. Sets which may be mapped onto each other through rotation are rotationally equivalent.