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
Kate Wagner, Curbed, 5 Sep. 2025
One of the big suppositions behind the big data center boom is that the most cutting edge AI models will be at least as large, if not larger, than the leading models that exist today.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2025
For example, over a decade ago, in the midst of the big data and analytics explosion, firms faced similar challenges.
—Adrian Swinscoe, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
This is the first big data test for Fed policy since Chairman Powell telegraphed a possible interest rate cut for the September meeting.
—Jeff Kilburg, CNBC, 29 Aug. 2025
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 10 Sep. 2025.
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