compute

verb com·pute \ kəm-ˈpyüt \

Definition of compute

computed; computing

transitive verb

:to determine especially by mathematical means

Compute the area of the triangle.

; also :to determine or calculate by means of a computer

computing pi to over one billion places

intransitive verb

1 :to make calculation :reckon

They compute by weight in selling grain.

2 :to use a computer

See compute defined for English-language learners

See compute defined for kids

Examples of compute in a Sentence

for the test we were required to compute the answers without using a calculator

Recent Examples of compute from the Web

The average American worker, for instance, has 20 times the productive equipment and computing power at his or her disposal than workers in China — and more still than workers in India, Brazil, Vietnam, or Indonesia.

— milton ezrati, National Review, "Globalization Can Be Good for American Workers," 7 Aug. 2017
Forecasting the Future In forecasting growth for the next 20 years, CHA Consulting Inc. of Albany N.Y, which the authority hired to compute the projections, looked at recent service announcements at Bradley.

— dylan mcguinness, courant.com, "Officials Consider Airport Of The Future At Bradley," 5 Aug. 2017
This weekend, Amazon also began banning VPN services from the Chinese version of its cloud-computing platform, called AWS.

— farhad manjoo, New York Times, "Apple’s Silence in China Sets a Dangerous Precedent," 31 July 2017
There was a dispute about the way the average scores were computed.

— mike cason, AL.com, "State BOE rates Sentance below proficient in most areas," 25 July 2017
Sales of Office 365 to businesses climbed 43 percent from a year earlier, and the Azure cloud-computing platform’s revenue climbed 97 percent.

— matt day, The Seattle Times, "Microsoft’s results beat analysts’ forecasts as profit more than doubles," 20 July 2017
If all that is a lot to compute, the bottom line is this: Rosebrook and his team couldn’t make the product fast enough.

— emily barth isler, Allure, "Josh Rosebrook Vital Balm Cream Has a Waitlist of 600 People," 18 July 2017
To run its mammoth operation, Amazon needs computing power.

— OregonLive.com, "Oregon's 10 biggest construction projects," 16 July 2017
And even Republican Senator, and former presidential candidate, Marco Rubio could’t quite compute it.

— emma stefansky, The Hive, "Donald Trump’s Plan to Beat Putin Meddling: An “Impenetrable Cyber Security Unit“ with Putin," 9 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'compute.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of compute

Latin computare — more at count

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1579

See Words from the same year

compute Synonyms

Synonyms

cipher, calculate, figure, reckon, work out

Related Words

add up, average, sum, tally, total, totalize; add, divide, multiply, subtract; allow (for), deduct, factor (in or into or out), figure in; figure out, solve (for); count, itemize, number; calibrate, gauge (also gage), measure, scale; assess, appraise, estimate, evaluate, rate, value; recalculate, recompute, refigure

COMPUTE Defined for English Language Learners

compute

verb

Definition of compute for English Language Learners

: to find out (something) by using mathematical processes

COMPUTE Defined for Kids

compute

verb com·pute \ kəm-ˈpyüt \

Definition of compute for Students

computed; computing

:to find out by using mathematics

compute a total

Word Root of compute

The Latin word putāre, meaning “to think,” gives us the root put. Words from the Latin putāre have something to do with thinking. A reputation is what other people think about something or someone. To compute is to use math to think about a bunch of numbers together in order to answer a problem. To dispute is to argue because two or more people think different things.