real-time

[ree-uh l-tahym, reel-]

adjective Computers.

of or relating to applications in which the computer must respond as rapidly as required by the user or necessitated by the process being controlled.

real time

[ree-uh l, reel]

noun

Computers. the actual time elapsed in the performance of a computation by a computer, the result of the computation being required for the continuation of a physical process.

the actual time during which a process takes place or an event occurs.

Origin of real time

First recorded in 1950–55

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for real-time

Contemporary Examples of real-time

The assessment of the strikes comes in real-time video from the aircraft.
Pentagon Doesn’t Know How Many People It’s Killed in the ISIS War
Nancy A. Youssef
January 7, 2015
Currently, real-time surveillance systems of disease do not exist.
The Secret to Tracking Ebola, MERS, and Flu? Sewers
Wudan Yan
November 29, 2014
State and public health agencies work similarly, but nothing is reported in real-time.
The Secret to Tracking Ebola, MERS, and Flu? Sewers
Wudan Yan
November 29, 2014
Waze is a GPS-like smartphone app that provides drivers with up-to-the-minute, real-time updates on road conditions.
The Airbnb of Home-Cooked Meals
Itay Hod
November 3, 2014
He could come up with a bass line in real-time as Daniel played.
Interpol on the Arrogance of Believing Their Own Myth and Life After Carlos D.
Melissa Leon
September 8, 2014

Historical Examples of real-time

Real-time interaction is fundamental to the context of focusing on nano-scale.
The Civilization of Illiteracy
Mihai Nadin
It can also perform most of the calculations necessary for real-time guidance of the course of the experiments.
On-Line Data-Acquisition Systems in Nuclear Physics, 1969
H. W. Fulbright et al.
Could a written report of the operation substitute for the real-time event?
The Civilization of Illiteracy
Mihai Nadin

British Dictionary definitions for real-time

real-time

adjective

denoting or relating to a data-processing system in which a computer receives constantly changing data, such as information relating to air-traffic control, travel booking systems, etc, and processes it sufficiently rapidly to be able to control the source of the data

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

real-time in Culture

real-time

A term used to describe computer systems that update information at the same rate as they receive data.