What CSS property can you use to define how an element will animate?

The animation property in CSS is used to specify the characteristics of an animation, such as the name of the animation, its duration, timing function, delay, and whether it should repeat or alternate direction. It acts as a shorthand to combine multiple properties related to animations into one, making it more convenient to apply complex animations with fewer lines of code.

Using the animation property allows you to define keyframes using the @keyframes rule, which describes the style changes and the intervals at which these changes occur throughout the animation. This provides a powerful way to create dynamic and engaging user interfaces.

In contrast, while the transition property enables simple property changes over time (for instance, when changing colors or sizes on hover), it is limited to specific property changes rather than full animations. The filter property is used to apply graphical effects like blurring, brightness, and contrast, while the transform property is used to apply 2D or 3D transformations such as scaling, rotating, or translating elements. These properties do not define the animation itself but can be involved in creating animated effects when combined with the animation property.