information
[in-fer-mey-shuh n]
- knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or circumstance; news: information concerning a crime.
- knowledge gained through study, communication, research, instruction, etc.; factual data: His wealth of general information is amazing.
- the act or fact of informing.
- an office, station, service, or employee whose function is to provide information to the public: The ticket seller said to ask information for a timetable.
- Directory Assistance.
- Law.
- an official criminal charge presented, usually by the prosecuting officers of the state, without the interposition of a grand jury.
- a criminal charge, made by a public official under oath before a magistrate, of an offense punishable summarily.
- the document containing the depositions of witnesses against one accused of a crime.
- (in information theory) an indication of the number of possible choices of messages, expressible as the value of some monotonic function of the number of choices, usually the logarithm to the base 2.
- Computers.
- important or useful facts obtained as output from a computer by means of processing input data with a program: Using the input data, we have come up with some significant new information.
- data at any stage of processing (input, output, storage, transmission, etc.).
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Origin of information
Synonyms
See more synonyms for information on Thesaurus.com1. data, facts, intelligence, advice. 2. Information, knowledge, wisdom are terms for human acquirements through reading, study, and practical experience. Information applies to facts told, read, or communicated that may be unorganized and even unrelated: to pick up useful information. Knowledge is an organized body of information, or the comprehension and understanding consequent on having acquired and organized a body of facts: a knowledge of chemistry. Wisdom is a knowledge of people, life, and conduct, with the facts so thoroughly assimilated as to have produced sagacity, judgment, and insight: to use wisdom in handling people.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for information
Contemporary Examples
Like many trans users, Transartist often gets used as a source of information more than anything else.
The FBI has also been searching its records for any information that could assist the French investigation, a spokesperson added.
The United States government might not release that information for years, if ever.
Ironically, the play deals with the ‘management’ of information by the Establishment.
Brazen cherry-picking of the information in this story inspired a flood of “Bush Was Right All Along!”
Historical Examples
Further, the native who gave all the information to Mr. Monger was one of our party.
Explorations in AustraliaJohn Forrest
It was almost impossible to win their confidence, or to get information from them.
Harriet, The Moses of Her PeopleSarah H. Bradford
No questions were asked; no information given; they simply disappeared.
Harriet, The Moses of Her PeopleSarah H. Bradford
The information obtained showed that there were five culprits.
Mrs M. is a humbug—not a drop of information can I get for love or money.
information
- knowledge acquired through experience or study
- knowledge of specific and timely events or situations; news
- the act of informing or the condition of being informed
- an office, agency, etc, providing information
- (as modifier)information service
- a charge or complaint made before justices of the peace, usually on oath, to institute summary criminal proceedings
- a complaint filed on behalf of the Crown, usually by the attorney general
- computing
- the meaning given to data by the way in which it is interpreted
- another word for data (def. 2)
- too much information informal I don't want to hear any more
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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
Word Origin and History for information
n.
late 14c., "act of informing," from Old French informacion, enformacion "information, advice, instruction," from Latin informationem (nominative informatio) "outline, concept, idea," noun of action from past participle stem of informare (see inform). Meaning "knowledge communicated" is from mid-15c. Information technology attested from 1958. Information revolution from 1969.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with information
information
see under gold mine.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.