mainframe
Americannoun
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mainframes
plural
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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He used his army of consultants to help clients navigate AI while positioning the company to milk its legacy mainframe and software businesses and to offer more tailored AI products.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
“I think you might see some, ‘Hey, we’ll hold off on this for a couple quarters…we don’t need to upgrade to the new mainframe right now,’” Morgan said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
The problem was the launch of the z17 mainframe program, which the company expected to be wrapping up during the second quarter.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
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
“But hacking into the mainframe is. It’s not our fault MI6 doesn’t know where it is.”
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
It sure smells like IBM mainframes of old.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
While other tech giants spend on AI data centers, Big Blue aims to keep selling mainframes and pour profits into quantum computing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Hardware sales are only about 20% of IBM’s revenue, and mainframes are about a quarter of hardware sales, but its software and consulting services are heavily dependent on those sales.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
However, Morningstar’s Yang explained that mainframes fall into a different class of hardware and process different workloads than hyperscaler servers do, for instance.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 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
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
