big data
noun
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
Matthew W. Kreuter, CNN Money, 8 Nov. 2025
Sunday’s edition drew 14 million viewers, according to Nielsen’s big data plus panel ratings.
—Rick Porter, HollywoodReporter, 4 Nov. 2025
But Ellison — son of Oracle multibillionaire Larry Ellison — has routinely espoused taking a tech-forward Silicon Valley approach to managing a major media company, by using big data and automation.
—Todd Spangler, Variety, 4 Nov. 2025
Saudi real estate developer Arabian Dyar has partnered with Google in a deal worth up to $100 million to integrate AI and big data tools across its projects — from land selection to facility management.
—Manal Albarakati, semafor.com, 31 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for big data
Cite this Entry
“Big data.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/big%20data. Accessed 11 Nov. 2025.
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