information retrieval

noun

: the techniques of storing and recovering and often disseminating recorded data especially through the use of a computerized system

Examples of information retrieval in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Amazon is teaming up with the University of Texas at Austin to launch a new science and engineering research partnership that aims to advance discoveries in areas such as video streaming, search and information retrieval, and robotics. Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes, 18 Apr. 2023 According to Gomez, the company is now working on rolling out products in three areas: one that can create coherent blog posts and other kinds of writing, one that can summarize large amounts of text, and one that can do search and information retrieval. Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 13 Dec. 2022 The idea, as the professor pitched it, was that a Go program was essentially a complex information retrieval problem. Christie Wilcox, Discover Magazine, 10 Mar. 2016 My dad's area of programming, at the time, was information retrieval: the kind of programming approach used in search engines. Christie Wilcox, Discover Magazine, 10 Mar. 2016 These new models have delivered significant improvements to applications using natural language like language translation, summarization, information retrieval, and, most important, text generation. Mustafa Suleyman, WIRED, 28 Dec. 2022 The school now serves some 3,600 undergraduate and graduate students studying everything from software design, robotics, machine learning, cybersecurity, information retrieval and more. Devi Shastri, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 18 Sep. 2021 Modern search relies on a process called indexing, which aims to store and parse data to maximize information retrieval. An Xiao Mina, The Atlantic, 8 June 2021 Noah’s method is similar to the way a search browser runs an information retrieval task. Kevin Anderton, Forbes, 18 Mar. 2021 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'information retrieval.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1950, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of information retrieval was in 1950

Dictionary Entries Near information retrieval

Cite this Entry

“Information retrieval.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/information%20retrieval. Accessed 24 Sep. 2023.

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