datum

[dey-tuhm, dat-uhm, dah-tuhm]

noun

plural

data, datums 

1. a single piece of information, as a fact, statistic, or code; an item of data.

2. Philosophy.

   1. any fact assumed to be a matter of direct observation.

   2. any proposition assumed or given, from which conclusions may be drawn.

3. Also called sense datum. Epistemology.,  the object of knowledge as presented to the mind.

4. Surveying, Civil Engineering.,  any level surface, line, or point used as a reference in measuring elevations.

5. Surveying.,  a basis for horizontal control surveys, consisting of the longitude and latitude of a certain point, the azimuth of a certain line from this point, and two constants used in defining the terrestrial spheroid.

datum

/ ˈdeɪtəm, ˈdɑːtəm /

noun

1. a single piece of information; fact

2. a proposition taken for granted, often in order to construct some theoretical framework upon it; a given See also sense datum

Usage

See data.

Word History and Origins

Origin of datum¹

First recorded in 1640–50; from Latin: “a thing given,” neuter past participle of dare “to give”

Word History and Origins

Origin of datum¹

C17: from Latin: something given; see _data

Example Sentences

"This helps us quickly process this massive data, identify targets and place them on a map."

Read more on BBC

Chips are the lifeblood of the economy, powering phones, computers and data centers needed to train artificial-intelligence models.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

This year, the department started working with Nova, which develops drone and aerial software that uses infrared data to build a map so crews can find hot spots within about 10 feet of accuracy.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Current AI tools are trained on mountains of data and are good at spotting patterns: whether tumour signs in scans or the word most likely to come after another in a particular sequence.

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Today’s version of that is worry about stretched valuations, a bubble in artificial intelligence stocks, weakness in the job market, and a lack of government data showing how bad things are.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• accomplishment 
• action 
• case 
• circumstance 
• data 
• evidence 
• experience 
• factor 
• incident 
• information 
• performance 
• phenomenon 
• statistic