big data

noun

: an accumulation of data that is too large and complex for processing by traditional database management tools

Did you know?

Big data is a new addition to our language, but exactly how new is not an easy matter to determine. A 1980 paper by Charles Tilly provides an early documented use of big data, but Tilly wasn't using the word in the exact same way we use it today; rather, he used the phrase "big-data people" to refer to historians engaged in data-rich fields such as cliometrics. Today, big data can refer to large data sets or to systems and solutions developed to manage such large accumulations of data, as well as for the branch of computing devoted to this development. Francis X. Diebold, a University of Pennsylvania economist, who has written a paper exploring the origin of big data as a term, a phenomenon, and a field of study, believes the term "probably originated in lunch-table conversations at Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) in the mid 1990s…."

Examples of big data in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The big data and digital health wave generated more information than the industry had ever known how to use. — Gilda D'incerti, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026

Meta has structured its big data center investments to keep them off its balance sheet. — Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 7 July 2026

That figure is likely to go up when final ratings, which will include Nielsen’s big data component and more complete out of home figures, are released later in the week. — Rick Porter, HollywoodReporter, 7 July 2026

Last year, the stock flatlined despite big data center order growth. — Morgan Chittum, CNBC, 1 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1996, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for big data

• advaita
• peseta
• punctata
• beta
• theta
• zeta
• oligochaeta
• polychaeta
• radiata

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