data mining

noun Digital Technology.

the process of collecting, searching through, and analyzing a large amount of data in a database, as to discover patterns or relationships: the use of data mining to detect fraud.

Origin of data mining

First recorded in 1985–90

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for data mining

Contemporary Examples of data mining

One shudders to think what the Gestapo might have done with just a handful of the data-mining tools currently employed by the NSA.
The Gestapo Still Sets the Bar for Evil
James A. Warren
July 13, 2014
Facebook emphasizes that it replaces identifying info with numbers before sharing your particulars with data-mining marketers.
You Thought You Had Privacy Before the NSA Leak? What About Facebook?
Michael Daly
June 13, 2013
By contrast, the Obama data-mining operation was revolutionary.
The GOP’s Huge, Growing Modernity Gap
Lloyd Green
June 9, 2013

British Dictionary definitions for data mining

data mining

noun

the gathering of information from pre-existing data stored in a database, such as one held by a supermarket about customers' shopping habits

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

data mining in Culture

data mining

The technique of identifying patterns and relationships within large databases through the use of advanced statistical methods.