datum

noun da·tum \ ˈdā-təm , ˈda- , ˈdä- \

|Updated on: 13 Jul 2018

Usage guide: Is data singular or plural?

Examples: datum in a Sentence

Definition of datum

1 plural data play \-ə\ : something given or admitted especially as a basis for reasoning or inference

an important historical datum

This enormous expense—and considerable risk—to pick up a datum or two about geriatrics?
—Charles Krauthammer

2 plural datums, mathematics : something used as a basis for calculating or measuring

measuring the distance between datum points

… make things more efficient for those of us whose work requires a time datum.
—Robert Steinbrunn

See datum defined for English-language learners

See datum defined for kids

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 datum in a Sentence

let's begin our discussion of this matter with a datum from actual experience

Recent Examples of datum from the Web

But, mapping services are only as good as the underlying data, which can be expensive to acquire and maintain.

— bill gourgey, WIRED, "How Artificial Intelligence Could Prevent Natural Disasters," 10 July 2018
Uber provided such detailed data that researchers were able to fully account for the causes behind the ride-hailing service's gender pay gap, said John List, who is an economist at the University of Chicago and one of the paper's co-authors.

— washington post, latimes.com, "Study of Uber drivers finds men earn more than women — for three key reasons," 9 July 2018
The timing of the video’s release has not been set, but such a release would deviate from past police shootings in Minnesota because investigative data — including video — is typically not made public before the conclusion of an investigation.

— youssef rddad, The Seattle Times, "Family: Minneapolis police shooting not justified as man ran," 9 July 2018
What matters with artificial intelligence today is the pattern found in the data, not the deterministic calculation.

— andy patrizio, Ars Technica, "The AI revolution has spawned a new chips arms race," 9 July 2018
But exactly how this story unfolds must await new data from both teams: Müller and his team plan to study toddlers and middle-aged adults with autism, and Nordahl’s group aims to follow the same children into adolescence.

— rachel zamzow, Scientific American, "Brains of Children with Autism Show Unusual Folding Patterns," 9 July 2018
Timehop also said no private/direct messages, financial data, photos or social media posts were accessed by the hackers.

— ben tobin, USA TODAY, "Data breach at media sharing app Timehop exposes 21 million users," 9 July 2018
According to Baseball Savant data, Schoop’s barrel rate is down from 7.0 percent to 4.4 and his lowest in the four years of StatCast research.

— eduardo a. encina, baltimoresun.com, "Orioles' Jonathan Schoop searches for form at the plate that made him an All-Star a year ago," 7 July 2018
Colombians make up only a small fraction of Alaska's population of 40,000 or so Hispanics, numbering in the hundreds in Anchorage according to the most recent Census data available, from 2010.

— michelle theriault boots, Anchorage Daily News, "For Anchorage’s soccer-mad Colombians, World Cup time means new connections — and parties," 4 July 2018

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