main memory

American

noun

Computers.

program-addressable storage that is directly controlled by and generally contained in the CPU: except for cache storage, the fastest type of storage available to any computer system.

main memory British

noun

the central memory-storage facility in a computer

"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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

My main memory of that stint was having to be there by 7 a.m., which meant getting up by 6.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 17, 2023

The mechanism for this effect centers on the brain’s main memory hub, the hippocampus.

From Scientific American • Dec. 9, 2022

Of that day when I saw him in 1967, Suitor’s main memory is of an air-cushion vehicle hovercraft, skimming over the Mall carrying the day’s VIP, Alan Boyd, the first U.S. secretary of transportation.

From Washington Post • Jan. 24, 2022

My main memory of growing up in Cardiff's Butetown in the sixties was of the different cultures.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2018

The main memory makes 511 registers available as index registers.

From Preliminary Specifications: Programmed Data Processor Model Three (PDP-3) October, 1960 by Digital Equipment Corporation

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023