information

[ in-fer-mey-shuhn ]

/ ˌɪn fərˈmeɪ ʃən /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR information ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.).

Nearby words

informal settlement, informal vote, informality, informant, informatics, information, information age, information architecture, information economy, information overload, information processing

Origin of information

1350–1400; Middle English: instruction, teaching, a forming of the mind < Medieval Latin, Latin: idea, conception. See inform¹, -ation

SYNONYMS FOR information

1 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.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR information ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

in·for·ma·tion·al, adjectivenon·in·for·ma·tion·al, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for informational

For those who trust the government, these informational lacunas are an excuse for inaction.
Is Prism Really a Scandal?|Alan M. Dershowitz|June 9, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But at this point the association should be regarded as informational rather than indicative of its source.
Ricin Scare at the White House: An Eerie Post-9/11 Echo|John Avlon|April 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Career fairs, résumé workshops, and informational interviews are all well and good.
Study Shows Close Facebook Friends Are Effective in Finding New Jobs|Nina Strochlic|March 14, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The edge at most hedge funds is getting an informational edge, or using holdings to push for changes in management.
Bridgewater May Be the Hottest Hedge Fund for Harvard Grads, but It’s Also the Weirdest|Daniel Gross|March 7, 2013|DAILY BEAST

So if they serve no informational purpose, one must then ask, what purpose do they serve?
Zero Dark Thirty and the Senators|Michael Tomasky|December 13, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Cornell University Library produced this volume to preserve the informational content of the deteriorated original.
Continental Monthly, Vol. II. July, 1862. No. 1.|Various
Footnotes indexed with arabic numbers (as , ) are informational.
The Works of Lord Byron|Lord Byron
Consequently it left unimpaired the scope of informational and abstract, or "rationalistic" studies.
Democracy and Education|John Dewey
Later in the course, Bible narrative, history, and biography will supply the chief sources of informational material.
How to Teach Religion|George Herbert Betts
Most of the informational parts of the original story have been cut out.
Here and Now Story Book|Lucy Sprague Mitchell

British Dictionary definitions for informational

information

/ (ˌɪnfəˈmeɪʃən) /

noun

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

Derived Forms

informational, adjective

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

Idioms and Phrases with informational

information

see under gold mine.