metadata

American  

[met-uh-dey-tuh, ‐-dat-uh, ‐-dah-tuh] / ˈmɛt əˌdeɪ tə, ‐ˌdæt ə, ‐ˌdɑ tə /

noun

(usually used with a singular verb)

1. data that describes, annotates, or gives information about other data, including but not limited to tags in a programming code, information about a digital file's characteristics, or a library catalog showing the location and call number of books: In their surveillance operations, intelligence agencies were able to access such metadata as the phone numbers involved and duration of phone calls.

   Search engine spiders use content and HTML metadata to index websites.

   In their surveillance operations, intelligence agencies were able to access such metadata as the phone numbers involved and duration of phone calls.

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metadata British  

plural noun

1. computing information that is held as a description of stored data

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Etymology

Origin of metadata

First recorded in 1965–70; meta- (in the sense “analyzing material at a higher level”) + data ( def. )

Explanation

Metadata is a collection of information, or data, that describes another set of data. In other words, metadata is "data about data." No kidding. The classic example of metadata is a library's card catalog — it's a complete system of data that's all about another set of data, the books that library holds. Today you'll find that metadata is primarily digital, existing on web pages and in computer files. Metadata tells you things about the data it describes, often including what the data is for, when and where it was created, and who created it.

Example Sentences

Additional sources included records of retracted studies from Retraction Watch, discussion comments from PubPeer and article metadata such as editor names, submission dates and acceptance dates from selected journals.

From Science Daily • Mar. 7, 2026

Others, including digital rights activist Nikhil Pahwa, say Meta and WhatsApp, as commercial entities, have a legitimate right to monetise user metadata.

From BBC • Feb. 28, 2026

And if all of this metadata wasn’t spooky enough, here’s a quick reminder as to who contested the Super Bowl in 2015: The New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.

From Barron's • Feb. 7, 2026

For creative content made using AI, like games or animations, the label can be placed in less intrusive ways, such as in the metadata.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

This directive inserts the PG header as generated from the metadata.

From The Project Gutenberg RST Manual by Marcello Perathoner