data

da·ta  (dt, dt, dät)

pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)

1. Factual information, especially information organized for analysis or used to reason or make decisions.

2. Computer Science Numerical or other information represented in a form suitable for processing by computer.

3. Values derived from scientific experiments.

4. Plural of datum.

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[Latin, pl. of datum; see datum.]

Usage Note: The word data is the plural of Latin datum, "something given," but it is not always treated as a plural noun in English. The plural usage is still common, as this headline from the New York Times attests: "Data Are Elusive on the Homeless." Sometimes scientists think of data as plural, as in These data do not support the conclusions. But more often scientists and researchers think of data as a singular mass entity like information, and most people now follow this in general usage. Sixty percent of the Usage Panel accepts the use of data with a singular verb and pronoun in the sentence Once the data is in, we can begin to analyze it. A still larger number, 77 percent, accepts the sentence We have very little data on the efficacy of such programs, where the quantifier very little, which is not used with similar plural nouns such as facts and results, implies that data here is indeed singular.

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data

Noun

1. a series of observations, measurements, or facts; information

2. Computers the numbers, digits, characters, and symbols operated on by a computer [Latin: (things) given]

USAGE: Although now often used as a singular noun, data is in fact a plural.

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Representation of facts, concepts, or instructions in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing by humans or by automatic means. Any representations such as characters or analog quantities to which meaning is or might be assigned.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

data - a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn; "statistical data" information aggregation, collection, accumulation, assemblage - several things grouped together or considered as a whole accounting data - all the data (ledgers and journals and spreadsheets) that support a financial statement; can be hard copy or machine readable metadata - data about data; "a library catalog is metadata because it describes publications" raw data - unanalyzed data; data not yet subjected to analysis

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data

noun details, facts, figures, materials, documents, intelligence, statistics, gen Brit. (informal) dope (informal) info (informal)

noun Computing information, input

USAGE From a historical point of view only, the word data is a plural. In fact, in many cases it is not clear from context if it is being used as a singular or plural, so there is no issue: when next needed the data can be accessed very quickly. When it is necessary to specify, the preferred usage nowadays in general language is to treat it as singular, as in: this data is useful to the government in the planning of housing services. There are rather more examples in the Bank of English of these data than this data, with a marked preference for the plural in academic and scientific writing. As regards data is versus data are, the preference for the plural form overall is even more marked in that kind of writing. When speaking, however, it is best to opt for treating the word as singular, except in precise scientific contexts. The singular form datum is comparatively rare in the sense of a single item of data.

Translations

data [ˈdeɪtə] npl → datos mpl

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data [ˈdeɪtə] npl → données fpl

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data [ˈdeɪtə] npl → Daten pl

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data [ˈdeɪtə] npl → dati mpl

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data

n pl data [ˈdeitə, daːtə]

or noun singular facts or information (especially the information given to a computer) All the data has/have been fed into the computer. gegewens, data مُعْطَيات، بَيانات информация údaje, informace data; materiale Daten (pl.) στοιχεία, δεδομένα datos andmed داده ها؛ اطلاعات tieto, tiedot données נְתוּנִים, מֵידָע डेटा podaci adat(ok) data staðreyndir, upplÿsingar, gögn dati 資料, データ 데이터, 자료 duomenys fakts; dati; informācija maklumat gegevens, data data, informasjon, materiale dane dados date данные údaje, pokyny podatki podaci data ข้อมูล veri, bilgi 數据 дані حقائق یا معلومات dữ liệu 数据

n database

(alsoˈdata-bank) a large amount of information which is stored in a computer. إعْدادُ البَيانات databank die Datenbank βάση δεδομένων base de datos andmepank tietopankki banque de données adatbázis; adatbannk bank data database ?컴퓨터? 데이터 베이스 duomenø bankas datu banka databank; database bank danych banco de dados date база данных banka podatkov databas veri bankası 數據處理 cơ sở dữ liệu 数据库

n data-ˈprocessing

the handling and processing of information by computer. dataverwerking إعْدادُ البَيانات обработване на информация zpracování informací databehandling elektronische Datenverarbeitung die επεξεργασία δεδομένων procesamiento de datos, informática andmetöötlus پردازش داده ها tietojenkäsittely informatique עִבּוּד נְתוּנִים (कंप्यूटर) डेटा प्रोसेसिंग, आंकड़ा अभिसंस्करण baza podataka (gépi) adatfeldolgozás pengolahan data gagnavinnsla elaborazione di dati データ処理 duomenų apdorojimas datu apstrāde memproses data automatische informatieverwerking databehandling przetwarzanie danych processamento de dados proce­sa­­re de date обработка информации spracovanie informácií obdelava podatkov obrada podataka databehandling การประมวลผลข้อมูลทางคอมพิวเตอร์ veri işlem, bilgi işlem 數据處理 обробка даних کمپیوٹر کے ذریعہ معلومات کی ترتیب اور تدوین xử lý dữ liệu 数据处理