computing

American  

[kuhm-pyoo-ting] / kəmˈpyu tɪŋ /

noun

1. the use of a computer to process data or perform calculations.

2. the act of calculating or reckoning.

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computing British  

/ kəmˈpjuːtɪŋ /

noun

1. the activity of using computers and writing programs for them

2. the study of computers and their implications

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adjective

1. of or relating to computers

   computing skills

Etymology

Origin of computing

First recorded in 1640–50; compute + -ing ¹

Explanation

Computing is the act of calculating something––adding it up, multiplying it, or doing more complex math functions to it. Computers are named for this process, because they can compute faster than most people. The verb compute comes from a Latin word for pruning. You can think of it like cleaning up piles of data to get a clear result. If you run a shop and have lots of figures, for items sold and returned, and money paid for salaries and overhead, then you'll have to do some computing to know how much money you actually earned that day. It's also a type of engineering.

Example Sentences

It’s not just traditional artificial-intelligence labs that are looking for computing.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026

CoreWeave will provide Jane Street with computing capacity, including Nvidia’s Vera Rubin technology, for its AI.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026

Data centers—the facilities that house the equipment powering AI and computing systems—are springing up across the country to fuel AI demand.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026

This level of interest appears to be helping the country make significant inroads in quantum computing.

From Barron's • Apr. 14, 2026

Brightbill had never run away—or flown away—and suddenly Roz was computing all the things that could go wrong.

From "The Wild Robot" by Peter Brown

Related Words

• bookkeeping