mainframe
Americannoun
noun
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a high-speed general-purpose computer, usually with a large storage capacity
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( as modifier )
mainframe systems
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the central processing unit of a computer
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A large, often powerful computer, usually dedicated to lengthy, complex calculations or set up for use by many people simultaneously.
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Compare personal computer
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mainframe
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Vocabulary lists containing mainframe
Computer Science and Technology - Middle School
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Computer Science and Technology - High School
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Example Sentences
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They include a nugget from the California gold rush; an 1879 lightbulb by Thomas Edison; a mainframe component from ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic computer that was built in 1946 and weighed 30 tons.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
“It was a shot to the heart and the chest and the mainframe with Luka,” James told reporters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026
“The mainframe serves as the backbone for the world’s largest enterprises managing the most complex and critical workloads,” Woodring wrote, ticking off banking systems, airline reservations, and transaction processing as a few examples.
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
“The idea of shifting off of mainframe is not a new concept,” he said in a note to clients.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 24, 2026
Dozens of terminals could be built, all linked to the mainframe by a telephone line, and everyone could be working—online—all at once.
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
Before the mid-1970s, computers were hulking mainframes housed in climate-controlled rooms, accessible mainly to governments and large corporations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Shares plummeted 13% on Monday after AI start-up Anthropic wrote a blog post detailing how its Claude Code tool can modernize the computer programming language used on IBM mainframes.
From Barron's ● Feb. 24, 2026
Moreover, mainframes are widely used by government clients and other “sensitive industry verticals” such as healthcare and financial services, for whom migrating to the public cloud isn’t an option.
From Barron's ● Feb. 24, 2026
Dynatrace helps customers manage their network of myriad software systems, apps and AI tools residing on multiple cloud platforms, internal networks and mainframes.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 12, 2026
Computers up to that point had been the massive, expensive mainframes of the sort sitting in the white expanse of the Michigan Computer Center.
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
