noun
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a systematized collection of data that can be accessed immediately and manipulated by a data-processing system for a specific purpose
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informal any large store of information
a database of knowledge
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of database
Explanation
A database is an organized body of information. Libraries have lots of databases to help you find books, articles, or information. Looking for some information? You might need to check a database, probably at the library or online. A database collects a bunch of information and resources, usually on a common subject. Some databases feature newspapers; others are related to legal issues. The police use databases to track criminals, and the government uses databases to track terrorists. Anywhere there's information being collected and accessed, there's probably a database keeping track of it all.
Vocabulary lists containing database
Computer Science and Technology - Introductory
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Computer Science and Technology - Middle School
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Computer Science and Technology - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He bought subscriptions to Ancestry.com and another personal information database.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
The breakthrough came while paleontologists Oscar Castillo and Jesús Serrano were building a database of fossils from the lithographic limestones of Montsec held in Catalan and European museums.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
Anyone who contributed financially to the transatlantic slave trade, or to a company enabling the trade, is listed in the database.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Investors that disclosed commitments to the fund include the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois and the Delaware Public Employees’ Retirement System, according to WSJ Pro’s LP Commitments database.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
The office kept an electronic database of every voter and potential voter we encountered, and then those that it reached through regular mailers.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
Investigators also looked to see if they could find living or deceased relatives through official DNA databases but none came up, the inquest heard.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
So her personal information, spread over multiple government databases, is messy, incomplete, often contradictory and may even have been inadvertently combined with others who share her name.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Miyashita asked Weber, who was then at Carleton University, along with two undergraduate students at the University of Ottawa, to search published research and museum databases for photographs of developing snakes.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 1, 2026
The numbers can be found in federal databases and are tracked, for example, by the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
Just as Bod’s name was not to be found on the school databases.
From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
