digital computer

noun

: a computer that operates with numbers expressed directly as digits compare analog computer, hybrid computer

Examples of digital computer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Meanwhile, spin waves have wavelengths of around 100 nanometers and offer a different vision for analog computing more aligned to the predominantly electronic world of digital computers. IEEE Spectrum, 17 Feb. 2024 In fact, its roots stretch back to World War II, with the invention of the first digital computers. Zafar Daud, Baltimore Sun, 16 Jan. 2024 Implementing such algorithms on digital computers invariably involves approximation, but theoretical analysis of their limitations is plagued by subtleties stemming from those approximations. Ben Brubaker, Quanta Magazine, 3 Jan. 2024 Indeed, smart money in Silicon Valley holds that digital computers will be able to replicate and soon exceed anything and everything that humans are capable of. Christof Kochgiulio Tononi, IEEE Spectrum, 25 May 2017 The air force determined the nation should build a massive radar network tied to digital computers. Marc Wortman, Rolling Stone, 26 Oct. 2023 Today’s digital computers are based on extremely low connectivity (with the output of one transistor wired to the input of a handful of transistors), compared with that of central nervous systems (in which a cortical neuron receives inputs and makes outputs to tens of thousands of other neurons). Christof Koch, Scientific American, 8 Sep. 2023 Tech is exceptional because digital computers and networks are universal, and universal things are interoperable, and interoperability lowers switching costs. Cory Doctorow, WIRED, 7 Sep. 2023 Is there a bias—or perhaps a fear—against technology and digital computers in the arts? Jed Perl, The New York Review of Books, 1 June 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'digital computer.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1946, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of digital computer was in 1946

Dictionary Entries Near digital computer

Cite this Entry

“Digital computer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/digital%20computer. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

digital computer

noun
: a computer that operates with numbers expressed as digits (as in the binary system) compare analog computer

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