big data

noun

: an accumulation of data that is too large and complex for processing by traditional database management tools

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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

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The accreditation for the big data plus panel measurement follows the Media Ratings Council’s thumbs up to Nielsen incorporating first-party streaming data with its traditional measurement for live events (currently only in use for NFL games on Amazon’s Prime Video, though that may change). —

Rick Porter, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Jan. 2025 Driving the news: The MRC, the media industry's de-facto measurement watchdog, said this is the first accreditation for a hybrid panel and big data product. —

Kerry Flynn, Axios, 22 Jan. 2025 While technological proficiencies in artificial intelligence, big data and cybersecurity are expected to see a surging demand, human-centric abilities like creative thinking, resilience and adaptability will remain essential. —

Jack Kelly, Forbes, 8 Jan. 2025 This shift aligns with the growing demand for high-performance computing power across industries like AI, blockchain and big data. —

Jessica Billingsley, Rolling Stone, 2 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for big data