data meaning

• Noun: data  deytu
  1. A collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn
     "statistical data"
     - information
  Noun: datum (data)  deytum
  1. An item of factual information derived from measurement or research
     - data point

  Derived forms: datas

  Type of: accumulation, aggregation, assemblage, collection, information

  Encyclopedia: Data

  Datum Datum, Greece Datum, Macedonia

• 
  [Business]
  BrE also ; AmE also / noun

  HARD DATA, PRIMARY DATA, SECONDARY DATA, SOFT DATA

  1 [U; pl.] (used as a plural noun in technical English, when the singular is datum)

  facts or information, especially when examined and used to find out things or to make decisions:

  This data was collected from 73 countries.

  They have found some interesting things in the data.

  ◆ raw data (= data that has not been studied yet)

  ◆ (Technical ) Recent economic data show that more than 2 500 jobs are created each month.

  ❖ to collect/get/obtain data

  ◆ to analyse/interpret/look at/use data

  ◆ the analysis/interpretation of data

  ◆ data indicate(s)/show(s)/suggest(s) sth

  ◆ economic/financial/scientific/technical data

  2 (IT ) [U]

  information that is stored by a computer:

  Once we have checked the stock, we enter the data into the computer.

  a data-storage system

  ❖ to access/enter/process/retrieve/store data

  ◆ data management/processing/retrieval/storage

• 
  [Defence]
  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.
• 
  [Electronics]
  1. A collection of digital bits (binary digits) with informational content (e.g., a computer file, a digital image, or a digital sound recording).
  2. General expression for information, especially in encoded or written form.
  

[Medicine]
n pl but sing or pl in constr : factual information (as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation ‹the data is plentiful and easily available —H. A. Gleason, Jr.› ‹comprehensive data on the incidence of Lyme disease›

• 
  [Computer]
  <data, data processing, jargon> /day't*/ (Or "raw data") Numbers, characters, images, or other method of recording, in a form which can be assessed by a human or (especially) input into a computer, stored and processed there, or transmitted on some digital channel. Computers nearly always represent data in binary.
  
  Data on its own has no meaning, only when interpreted by some kind of data processing system does it take on meaning and become information.
  
  For example, the binary data 01110101 might represent the integer 117 or the ASCII lower case U character or the blue component of a pixel in some video. Which of these it represents is determined by the way it is processed (added, printed, displayed, etc.). Even these numbers, characters or pixels however are still not really information until their context is known, e.g. my bank balance is £117, there are two Us in "vacuum", you have blue eyes.

• accounting data:    Noun: accounting d ...
• analog data:    [Electronics]1. Da ...
• approximate data:    [Electronics]1. Da ...

Examples

1. the observational data were irrefutable.
2. nonlinear data exhibit considerable variation.
3. the result agreed with experimental data.
4. the data is not enough to be convincing.
5. drop data may be presented as moving pictures.