COBOL

noun

CO·​BOL ˈkō-ˌbȯl How to pronounce COBOL (audio)
variants or Cobol
: a computer programming language designed for business applications

Examples of COBOL in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Much of the New York City subway depends on mechanical switching systems installed in the nineteen-thirties; many banks rely on software written in COBOL, a basically obsolete programming language. Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 29 Oct. 2024 The new system, which requires a porting of COBOL and Assembly code into Java, is intended to be more modern and sustainable moving forward. Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes, 7 Sep. 2024 Her innovations were later folded into COBOL, the language of banking and backend systems. Clive Thompson, WIRED, 29 July 2024 There are hundreds of billions of lines of COBOL code running on production systems worldwide. Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 23 Aug. 2023 In its heyday, COBOL allowed Wall Street to be innovative, but as payment processors such as Stripe, Paypal, and Adyen have become the new normal, COBOL prevents our banking institutions from modernizing and represents an imminent security threat. Bythomas Dohmke, Fortune, 26 Sep. 2023 And that’s before the last of the COBOL generation retires. IEEE Spectrum, 29 Mar. 2023

Word History

Etymology

common business oriented language

First Known Use

1960, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of COBOL was in 1960

Dictionary Entries Near COBOL

Cite this Entry

“COBOL.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/COBOL. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

COBOL

noun
CO·​BOL
variants or Cobol
: a computer programming language used especially in business
Etymology

common business oriented language

More from Merriam-Webster on COBOL

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