data

noun, plural in form but singular or plural in construction, often attributive da·ta \ ˈdā-tə , ˈda- also ˈdä- \

Updated on: 20 Apr 2018

Definition of data

1 : factual information (such as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation

the data is plentiful and easily available
—H. A. Gleason, Jr.

comprehensive data on economic growth have been published
—N. H. Jacoby

2 : information in digital form that can be transmitted or processed

3 : information output by a sensing device or organ that includes both useful and irrelevant or redundant information and must be processed to be meaningful

Is data singular or plural?

Data leads a life of its own quite independent of datum, of which it was originally the plural. It occurs in two constructions: as a plural noun (like earnings), taking a plural verb and plural modifiers (such as these, many, a few) but not cardinal numbers, and serving as a referent for plural pronouns (such as they, them); and as an abstract mass noun (like information), taking a singular verb and singular modifiers (such as this, much, little), and being referred to by a singular pronoun (it). Both constructions are standard. The plural construction is more common in print, evidently because the house style of several publishers mandates it.

Examples of data in a Sentence

Smith, himself a stay-at-home dad and a journalist, mixes accessible summaries of social-science data with anecdotes drawn from interviews with couples in which the men have chosen, or have been compelled by economic circumstance, to become primary caregivers to their children. —Eduardo M. Pealver, Commonweal, 11 Sept. 2009
He plays Chuck Bartowski, a computer-tech expert with the Buy More store's Nerd Herd … who unwittingly becomes a secret agent when government data is downloaded to his brain. —Michael Logan, TV Guide, September 10-16, 2007
As measurements get better and more data pour in, physicists will bring those errors under control and chart exciting new territory. But for many, the wait is a strain. —Charles Seife, Science, 2 May 2003
By studying obscure demographic and economic data, he deduced that the Soviets were in crisis—and spending a far bigger slice of its national income on defense than anyone had suspected. —John Barry et al., Newsweek, 21 May 2001

Recent Examples of data from the Web

The data is collected and used by state agencies, local municipalities, and nonprofits for conservation assessment and planning purposes.

— denise coffey, Courant Community, "Immersed In Life For Vernal Pool Training," 17 Apr. 2018
For the first time, Zuckerberg said that his data was swept up by an app that fed data on 87 million users to Cambridge Analytica.

— washington post, BostonGlobe.com, "Facebook’s Zuckerberg survives 10 hours of questioning by Congress," 16 Apr. 2018
Lake County Jail housed a few offenders last month facing charges in federal court, the data shows.

— becky jacobs, Post-Tribune, "From accused murderers to misdemeanors, inmates form 'family bonds' on women's floor of Lake County jail," 13 Apr. 2018
That’s the day that the European GDPR provision that requires companies to give users the option to download their data takes effect.

— don reisinger, Fortune, "Instagram Will Finally Let Users Download Their Own Data," 12 Apr. 2018
As Justice Caroline Costello wrote in the Thursday referral: [Schrems] states that his personal data is forwarded by Facebook to Facebook Inc. in the United States of America where his data is processed.

— cyrus farivar, Ars Technica, "Facebook data transfers to be examined by EU court, Irish judge rules," 12 Apr. 2018
By comparison, my Facebook data was about 650 megabytes, the equivalent of about 160 hours of music.

— author: brian x. chen, Anchorage Daily News, "I downloaded the information Facebook has on me. Yikes.," 12 Apr. 2018
Nordstrom has spent a lot of time, effort, and money accumulating data points about what its customers enjoy.

— cam wolf, GQ, "Nordstrom's New York Store Is Like Shopping Online—Only in Real Life," 12 Apr. 2018
More to know Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says his data was exposed in the Cambridge Analytica leak.

— USA TODAY, "'Weekend dad' Paul Ryan is out. How will this shake up the House?," 11 Apr. 2018

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