big data

noun

(used with a singular or plural verb)

1. Computers.,  data sets, typically consisting of billions or trillions of records, that are so vast and complex that they require new and powerful computational resources to process.

   Supercomputers can analyze big data to create models of global climate change.

big data

plural noun

1. computing data held in such large amounts that it can be difficult to process

Word History and Origins

Origin of big data¹

First recorded in 1975–80, for an earlier sense

Example Sentences

AI and big data also help reveal patterns that humans might never spot.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Shares of Entergy were climbing on Friday after Google unveiled plans to built a big data center in Arkansas.

Read more on Barron's

They see a quantum market worth $2 trillion by the middle of the next decade, with applications ranging from encryption to deep learning and the real-time usage of Big Data analysis.

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Prof Etchells says: "If you think that screens do change brains for the worse, you would see that signal in a big data set like that. But you don't… so this idea that screens are changing brains in a consistently or enduringly bad way, that just doesn't seem to be the case."

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The demands from the DHS were “unprecedented,” the official added, saying the agency was pressing the IRS to do what amounted to “a big data dump.”

Read more on Salon