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

Small town, big data center Few towns know what a good deal looks like better than Perry, which has been molded for the past half-century by the looming cooling towers of its local nuclear power plant. — Sara Herschander, Vox, 5 Nov. 2026

The fast nationals don’t include Nielsen’s big data component, so the numbers are pretty likely to change some. — Rick Porter, HollywoodReporter, 4 Nov. 2026

China’s new plan proposes using big data and specialized AI models to accelerate this process. — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 1 Nov. 2026

Stephen Winn, a hard-nosed Texan with a taste for big data, founded RealPage in 1998. — Literary Hub, 14 Oct. 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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