COBOL

American  

[koh-bawl] / ˈkoʊ bɔl /

noun

Computers.

1. a programming language particularly suited for writing programs to process large files of data, using a vocabulary of common English words, phrases, and sentences.

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COBOL British  

/ ˈkəʊˌbɒl /

noun

1. a high-level computer programming language designed for general commercial use

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COBOL Scientific  

/ kō′bôl′ /

1. A programming language developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s and used especially for business applications. It is closer to English than many other high-level languages, making it easier to learn.

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Etymology

Origin of COBOL

1955–60; co(mmon) b(usiness) - o(riented) l(anguage)

Example Sentences

IBM suffered its worst day in 25 years, compounded by Anthropic’s announcement that its Claude AI could modernize COBOL, the programming language holding IBM’s mainframe empire together.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 19, 2026

The selloff began after Anthropic announced that its Claude Code tool could automate the modernization of COBOL, a decades-old programming language that underpins most ATM transactions and in-person credit card swipes.

From Barron's • Feb. 24, 2026

The agency still uses technology dating back more than a half-century, including devices running a programming language, COBOL, that few coders still know.

From New York Times • Aug. 26, 2022

The IRS uses a decades-old software — its “MasterFile” software responsible for processing individual and business tax filings was developed in 1962 — and a computer programming language called COBOL.

From Washington Post • Apr. 17, 2020

"Well, you *could* write a C compiler in COBOL, but it would be like kicking dead whales down the beach."

From The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0, 24 Jul 1996 by Raymond, Eric S.