big data
noun
Did you know?
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
Chris Gallagher, USA TODAY, 15 Feb. 2025
In this big data set spanning seventy-one years, people have become increasingly likely to choose cooperation over betrayal.
—Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 7 Feb. 2025
The Tapestry approach includes a little marketing and product magic mixed with the science of big data and artificial intelligence.
—Evan Clark, WWD, 6 Feb. 2025
Liang’s academic credentials — having graduated in artificial intelligence from Zhejiang University with expertise in computer vision and big data — have significantly contributed to his visionary leadership at DeepSeek.
—Quartz Intelligence Newsroom, Quartz, 28 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for big data 
Dictionary Entries Near big data
Cite this Entry
“Big data.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/big%20data. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share