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:
El Camino Real put coach Josh Lienhard on administrative leave after questions arose why his CPR and first-aid cards were not listed in the Red Cross database.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
Researchers hope the new genetic database will ultimately help bring more personalized cancer care to cats.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 27, 2026
The database at the heart of this case is known as SAVE, Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, and it’s been in use since 1986.
From Slate ● Sep. 25, 2026
Dallas Fed researchers made their measures with a database of jobs and their associated tasks, and records of the tasks that Anthropic’s Claude can perform.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
It was the only area of the database I couldn’t seem to access.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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
District Attorney Nathan Hochman launched an investigation using law-enforcement databases with records of virtually everyone the county had prosecuted since the 1960s, including juveniles whose files had been scrubbed from the probation department.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Since the late 1980s, people had been putting up databases with Internet access.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
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.
