information

[in-fer-mey-shuhn]

noun

1. knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or circumstance; news.

   information concerning a crime.

   Synonyms: advice, intelligence, data

2. knowledge gained through study, communication, research, instruction, etc.; factual data.

   His wealth of general information is amazing.

3. the act or fact of informing.

4. 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.

5. Directory Assistance.

6. Law.

   1. an official criminal charge presented, usually by the prosecuting officers of the state, without the interposition of a grand jury.

   2. a criminal charge, made by a public official under oath before a magistrate, of an offense punishable summarily.

   3. the document containing the depositions of witnesses against one accused of a crime.

7. (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.

8. Computers.

   1. 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.

   2. data at any stage of processing (input, output, storage, transmission, etc.).

information

/ ˌɪnfəˈmeɪʃən /

noun

1. knowledge acquired through experience or study

2. knowledge of specific and timely events or situations; news

3. the act of informing or the condition of being informed

4. 1. an office, agency, etc, providing information

   2. ( as modifier )

      information service

5. 1. a charge or complaint made before justices of the peace, usually on oath, to institute summary criminal proceedings

   2. a complaint filed on behalf of the Crown, usually by the attorney general

6. computing

   1. the meaning given to data by the way in which it is interpreted

   2. another word for data

7. informal,  I don't want to hear any more

Other Word Forms

• informational adjective
• noninformational adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of information¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English infformacion, informacyon “instruction, teaching, a forming of the mind,” from Middle French, Old French informacion, information “criminal inquiry,” from Late Latin informātiō “teaching, instruction,” from Latin: “sketch, first draft; idea, conception”; inform ¹, -ation

Idioms and Phrases

see under gold mine.

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

Police say they are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the collision and have asked anyone with information or relevant footage to contact them.

Read more on BBC

“New accounts or information can be added or removed from your credit report as well,” the credit bureau adds.

Read more on MarketWatch

Reid counters that the advent of AI chatbots is helping fuel users wanting more information.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Tech was particularly hard hit, with the S&P 500 information technology sector tumbling 4%, eroding part of its staggering 45% gain over the past six months.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Current and potential investors demanded more information on First Brands’ earnings and off-balance-sheet arrangements.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• advice 
• clue 
• data 
• info 
• instruction 
• intelligence 
• knowledge 
• material 
• message 
• report 
• science 
• tip 
• word