metadata

noun

meta·da·ta ˌme-tə-ˈdā-tə

-ˈda-,

also -ˈdä-

plural in form but singular or plural in construction

: data that provides information about other data

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How Metadata Was Formed

It's easy to find data on the source of "metadata": the word was formed by combining "data" with "meta-," which means "transcending" and is often used to describe a new but related discipline designed to deal critically with the original one. "Meta-" was first used in that way in "metaphysics" and has been extended to a number of other disciplines, giving us such words as "metapsychology" and "metamathematics." "Metadata" takes the "transcending" aspect a step further, applying it to the concept of pure information instead of a discipline. "Metadata" is a fairly new word (it appeared in the latter half of the 20th century), whereas "data" can be traced back to the middle of the 17th century.

Examples of metadata in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Many of the documents contain metadata showing they were written by members of a team working for Ilya Gambashidze, head of the Moscow PR firm Social Design Agency. —

Joseph Menn, Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2024 That might sound plausible in 2024, but the ruling was issued in 2013, months before Edward Snowden revealed the existence of government programs collecting massive amounts of metadata on US citizens. —

Noah Feldman, The Mercury News, 30 Mar. 2024 Without detailed metadata, a video archive is like a library without a card catalog. —

Dave Friend, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024 Sleuths spotted 16 oddities in the shot, and Sky News later shared that an investigation of the metadata indicated the original image was saved twice in Photoshop. —

Janine Henni, Peoplemag, 14 Mar. 2024 OpenAI introduced watermarks to Dall-E’s images last week, both visually and embedded in a photo’s metadata. —

Maxwell Zeff / Gizmodo, Quartz, 12 Feb. 2024 Meanwhile, information about United States intelligence agencies purchasing Americans' phone location data and internet metadata without a warrant was revealed this week only after US senator Ron Wyden blocked the appointment of a new NSA director until the information was made public. —

Lily Hay Newman, WIRED, 27 Jan. 2024 In the enterprise, that deep integration of data meant data and metadata. —

Kylie Robison, Fortune, 29 Feb. 2024 The information comes from Luminate’s new Streaming Viewership (M) product, which deploys more than two years of data science modeling combined with public and private data sources, and proprietary entertainment metadata for contextual reference. —

William Earl, Variety, 29 Feb. 2024

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