information

[ in-fer-mey-shuhn ]

See synonyms for information on Thesaurus.com

noun

knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or circumstance; news: information concerning a crime.
knowledge gained through study, communication, research, instruction, etc.; factual data: His wealth of general information is amazing.

the act or fact of informing.
an office, station, service, or employee whose function is to provide information to the public: The ticket seller said to ask information for a timetable.
Directory Assistance.
Law.
- an official criminal charge presented, usually by the prosecuting officers of the state, without the interposition of a grand jury.
- a criminal charge, made by a public official under oath before a magistrate, of an offense punishable summarily.
- the document containing the depositions of witnesses against one accused of a crime.
(in information theory) an indication of the number of possible choices of messages, expressible as the value of some monotonic function of the number of choices, usually the logarithm to the base 2.
Computers.
- important or useful facts obtained as output from a computer by means of processing input data with a program: Using the input data, we have come up with some significant new information.
- data at any stage of processing (input, output, storage, transmission, etc.).

Origin of information

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English infformacion, informacyon “instruction, teaching, a forming of the mind,” from Middle French, Old French informacion, information “criminal inquiry,” from Late Latin informātiō “teaching, instruction,” from Latin: “sketch, first draft; idea, conception”; see inform¹, -ation

synonym study For information

2. Information, knowledge, wisdom are terms for human acquirements through reading, study, and practical experience. Information applies to facts told, read, or communicated that may be unorganized and even unrelated: to pick up useful information. Knowledge is an organized body of information, or the comprehension and understanding consequent on having acquired and organized a body of facts: a knowledge of chemistry. Wisdom is a knowledge of people, life, and conduct, with the facts so thoroughly assimilated as to have produced sagacity, judgment, and insight: to use wisdom in handling people.

Other words for information

1	data, facts, intelligence, advice

See synonyms for information on Thesaurus.com

Other words from information

in·for·ma·tion·al, adjective
non·in·for·ma·tion·al, adjective

Words Nearby information

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use information in a sentence

Like many trans users, Transartist often gets used as a source of information more than anything else.
Grindr’s Trans Dating Problem | David Levesley | January 9, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
The FBI has also been searching its records for any information that could assist the French investigation, a spokesperson added.
U.S. Spies See Al Qaeda Fingerprints on Paris Massacre | Shane Harris, Nancy A. Youssef | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
The email appears to have been a relatively common attempt to gain personal information from a wide range of unwitting victims.
Was Sony Hit With a Second Hack? | Shane Harris | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
The new information consisted of Internet protocol addresses that Comey said are “exclusively used” by North Korea.
Was Sony Hit With a Second Hack? | Shane Harris | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
The United States government might not release that information for years, if ever.
Was Sony Hit With a Second Hack? | Shane Harris | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST

This information was balm to Louis, as it seemed to promise a peaceful termination to so threatening an affair.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4 | Jane Porter
Probably his Private Secretary, considering you a new man, will have failed to furnish the necessary information.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 107, November 3, 1894 | Various
Such a refusal would lead to quick enquiry—enquiry to information—information to want of confidence and speedy ruin.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV. | Various
At the sound of Blanche's name he jumped up and took his usual tone; he knew all about his wife, and needed no information.
Confidence | Henry James
Taken for guerrillas, every Southern sympathizer was eager to give them all the information possible.
The Courier of the Ozarks | Byron A. Dunn

British Dictionary definitions for information

information

/ (ˌɪnfəˈmeɪʃən) /

noun

knowledge acquired through experience or study
knowledge of specific and timely events or situations; news

the act of informing or the condition of being informed
- an office, agency, etc, providing information
- (as modifier): information service
- a charge or complaint made before justices of the peace, usually on oath, to institute summary criminal proceedings
- a complaint filed on behalf of the Crown, usually by the attorney general
computing
- the meaning given to data by the way in which it is interpreted
- another word for data (def. 2)
too much information informal I don't want to hear any more

Derived forms of information

informational, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with information

information

see under gold mine.

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