big data
noun
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Big data is a new addition to our language, but exactly how new is not an easy matter to determine. A 1980 paper by Charles Tilly provides an early documented use of big data, but Tilly wasn't using the word in the exact same way we use it today; rather, he used the phrase "big-data people" to refer to historians engaged in data-rich fields such as cliometrics. Today, big data can refer to large data sets or to systems and solutions developed to manage such large accumulations of data, as well as for the branch of computing devoted to this development. Francis X. Diebold, a University of Pennsylvania economist, who has written a paper exploring the origin of big data as a term, a phenomenon, and a field of study, believes the term "probably originated in lunch-table conversations at Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) in the mid 1990s…."
Examples of big data in a Sentence
Paula Schneider, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2025
In 2024, Jiangsu province encouraged enterprises to collaborate with universities such as Nanjing University and Nanjing University of Science and Technology, using big data and AI models to develop general AI solutions for industrial applications.
—Li Jun, WWD, 24 Feb. 2025
This move certifies the integration of big data and the combined methodology.
—Kerry Flynn, Axios, 22 Jan. 2025
In July, a senior executive at the National Association of Software and Service Companies estimated that the country’s tech companies might need to reskill over half its workforce in new skills for AI, big data, and cybersecurity.
—Nicholas Gordon, Fortune Asia, 15 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for big data
Cite this Entry
“Big data.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/big%20data. Accessed 4 Mar. 2025.
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