neural network

American  

[noor-uhl net-wurk, nyoor-uhl] / ˈnʊr əl ˈnɛtˌwɜrk, ˈnjʊr əl /

noun

1. any group of neurons that conduct impulses in a coordinated manner, as the assemblages of brain cells that record a visual stimulus.

2. Also called neural net.  Computers. a hardware or software system in which weighted connections between data nodes are refined to produce increasingly accurate results in information processing, as in pattern recognition or problem solving, with the goal of algorithmic computing that requires minimal human intervention.

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neural network British  

noun

1. an interconnected system of neurons, as in the brain or other parts of the nervous system

2. Also called: neural net.  an analogous network of electronic components, esp one in a computer designed to mimic the operation of the human brain

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Etymology

Origin of neural network

First recorded in 1985–90

Example Sentences

“Remember, when you’re building a neural network, every GPU needs to have a path to every other GPU in the cluster,” Weeks says.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 12, 2026

Thousands of simulations were run while a simple neural network identified which scenarios most closely matched the fossil evidence.

From Science Daily • Jun. 10, 2026

And in 2024 researchers at Harvard University developed a neural network model called TxGNN to surface existing drugs which could be used to treat rare conditions.

From BBC • May 22, 2026

To address this, the researchers used tensor-polarization holography theory along with a convolutional neural network to recover all three types of data from diffraction intensity images.

From Science Daily • Mar. 29, 2026

And these technological therapies would have to be constructed, she said, so that they don’t invite their own side effects, like, say, overbuilding one neural network.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel