- a series of observations, measurements, or facts; information
Also called: information the information operated on by a computer program
USAGE
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2017
da•ta /ˈdeɪtə, ˈdætə/USA pronunciation
n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2017- [plural;
used with a plural verb] a pl. of datum. - Pronouns individual facts, statistics, or items of information:[plural; used with a plural verb]Do your data support your conclusions?
- Pronouns[noncount;
used with a singular verb] a body or collection of facts;
information: The data is inconclusive.
da•ta
(dā′tə, dat′ə, dä′tə),USA pronunciation n.
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2017- a pl. of datum.
- Pronouns(used with a pl. v.) individual facts, statistics, or items of information:These data represent the results of our analyses. Data are entered by terminal for immediate processing by the computer.
- Pronouns(used with a sing. v.) a body of facts;
information:Additional data is available from the president of the firm.
- Data is a plural of datum, which is originally a Latin noun meaning "something given.'' Today, data is used in English both as a plural noun meaning "facts or pieces of information'' (These data are described more fully elsewhere) and as a singular mass noun meaning "information'':Not much data is available on flood control in Brazil.It is almost always treated as a plural in scientific and academic writing. In other types of writing it is either singular or plural. The singular datum meaning "a piece of information'' is now rare in all types of writing. In surveying and civil engineering, where datum has specialized senses, the plural form is datums.
da•tum /ˈdeɪtəm, ˈdætəm/USA pronunciation
n. [countable], pl. da•ta
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2017- /ˈdeɪtə, ˈdætə/ .USA pronunciation
- a single piece of information, as a fact, statistic, or code;
an item of data.
da•tum
(dā′təm, dat′əm, dä′təm),USA pronunciation n., pl. da•ta (dā′tə, dat′ə, dä′tə)USA pronunciation for 1–3, da•tums for 4, 5.
- a single piece of information, as a fact, statistic, or code;
an item of data. - Philosophy
- any fact assumed to be a matter of direct observation.
- any proposition assumed or given, from which conclusions may be drawn.
- PhilosophyAlso called sense datum. [Epistemology.]the object of knowledge as presented to the mind. Cf. ideatum.
- Surveyingany level surface, line, or point used as a reference in measuring elevations.
- Surveyinga basis for horizontal control surveys, consisting of the longitude and latitude of a certain point, the azimuth of a certain line from this point, and two constants used in defining the terrestrial spheroid.
- Latin: a thing given, neuter past participle of dare to give
- 1640–50
- See data.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
data /ˈdeɪtə; ˈdɑːtə/ pl n
USAGE
Although now often used as a singular noun, data is properly a plural
USAGE
datum /ˈdeɪtəm; ˈdɑːtəm/ n ( pl -ta / -tə/ )
- a single piece of information; fact
- a proposition taken for granted, often in order to construct some theoretical framework upon it; a given
See also sense datum
'DATA' also found in these entries:
4G
- BitTorrent
- accumulator
- alphanumeric
- analysis of variance
- archive
- array
- augmented reality
- back up
- bank
- biodata
- biometric
- biometry
- bitstream
- bubble memory
- buffer
- busbar
- byte
- capture
- central processing unit
- channel
- chi-square test
- chipset
- clear
- client
- compress
- computer
- conceptualize
- convergence
- cookie
- corrupt
- cradle
- curve
- cyberspace
- data capture
- data mining
- data pen
- data processing
- data protection
- data set
- database
- date
- datum
- dead data
- deselect
- digital
- digital mapping
- digitize
- direct access