information retrieval

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noun

the systematic storage and recovery of data, as from a file, card catalog, or the memory bank of a computer. Abbreviation: IR

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Origin of information retrieval

First recorded in 1945–50

Words nearby information retrieval

information bubble, information economy, information overload, information processing, information question, information retrieval, information science, information security, information superhighway, information system, information technology

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use information retrieval in a sentence

There have been decades of progress on different areas of search, from answering queries to summarizing documents to structuring information, says Ziqi Zhang at the University of Sheffield, UK, who studies information retrieval on the web.
Language models like GPT-3 could herald a new type of search engine|Will Douglas Heaven|May 14, 2021|MIT Technology Review
Retrieving parts of documents, AKA passage retrieval, or sub-document retrieval, in information retrieval is not new, as such.
Could Google passage indexing be leveraging BERT?|Dawn Anderson|October 29, 2020|Search Engine Land
OpenAI built its own information retrieval system GPT-3 so that it could create superintelligence.
What the commoditization of search engine technology with GPT-3 means for Google and SEO|Manick Bhan|August 21, 2020|Search Engine Watch
Like many trans users, Transartist often gets used as a source of information more than anything else.
Grindr’s Trans Dating Problem|David Levesley|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST

The FBI has also been searching its records for any information that could assist the French investigation, a spokesperson added.
U.S. Spies See Al Qaeda Fingerprints on Paris Massacre|Shane Harris, Nancy A. Youssef|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The email appears to have been a relatively common attempt to gain personal information from a wide range of unwitting victims.
Was Sony Hit With a Second Hack?|Shane Harris|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The new information consisted of Internet protocol addresses that Comey said are “exclusively used” by North Korea.
Was Sony Hit With a Second Hack?|Shane Harris|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The United States government might not release that information for years, if ever.
Was Sony Hit With a Second Hack?|Shane Harris|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
This information was balm to Louis, as it seemed to promise a peaceful termination to so threatening an affair.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
Probably his Private Secretary, considering you a new man, will have failed to furnish the necessary information.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 107, November 3, 1894|Various
Such a refusal would lead to quick enquiry—enquiry to information—information to want of confidence and speedy ruin.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
At the sound of Blanche's name he jumped up and took his usual tone; he knew all about his wife, and needed no information.
Confidence|Henry James
Taken for guerrillas, every Southern sympathizer was eager to give them all the information possible.
The Courier of the Ozarks|Byron A. Dunn

British Dictionary definitions for information retrieval

information retrieval

noun

computing the process of recovering specific information from stored data

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

information retrieval

Origin of information retrieval

Words nearby information retrieval

Words related to information retrieval

How to use information retrieval in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for information retrieval