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

Google gave us metadata, recipients, dates and subject lines of her emails, but no content.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026

Many have moved from WhatsApp to the non-profit Signal in recent years because of privacy concerns after WhatsApp said it would share some metadata with parent company Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram.

From Barron's • Apr. 25, 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

AI can also assess metadata to detect potential fraud, including IP addresses, an applicant’s proximity to the college based on the IP, and if multiple applications are coming from the same computer.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 2, 2026

The metadata directive contains all data that is used to generate the PG header and the PG catalog entry.

From The Project Gutenberg RST Manual by Marcello Perathoner