terabyte

[ ter-uh-bahyt ]

/ ˈtɛr əˌbaɪt /

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noun Computers.

240 (1,099,511,627,776) bytes; 1024 gigabytes.

(loosely) 1012 or one trillion (1,000,000,000,000) bytes; 1000 gigabytes. Symbol: TB, TByte.

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Origin of terabyte

First recorded in 1980–85; tera- + byte

Words nearby terabyte

teppan-yaki, Tequendama Falls, tequila, ter, tera-, terabyte, teraflop, teraflops, teraglin, Terah, terahertz

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use terabyte in a sentence

Even though a mouse brain is smaller than a human fingertip, the size of these datasets can easily reach between a few hundred gigabytes to a terabyte.
Neuroscientists are mapping all 100 billion cells in the human brain|Yongsoo Kim/The Conversation|November 18, 2021|Popular-Science
For context, in 2012, the Library of Congress had over 3,000 terabytes of data.
How to store 500 terabytes of data on a small but tough glass disc|Shira Feder|November 6, 2021|Popular-Science
What’s more, according to Rubenstein’s rough calculations, a flask of small molecules could hold the same amount as 200 Empire State Buildings’ worth of terabyte hard drives.
The Brilliant 10: The most innovative up-and-coming minds in science|Bill Gourgey|September 20, 2021|Popular-Science
Even if APPS and other databases had not yet achieved the level of function they were intended to, they still contain many terabytes of data on Afghan citizens that the Taliban can mine.
This is the real story of the Afghan biometric databases abandoned to the Taliban|Eileen Guo, Hikmat Noori|August 30, 2021|MIT Technology Review

This isn’t an issue when you’re talking about relatively small amounts of data, but machine learning algorithms, especially during training, now routinely handle millions of data points and ingest terabytes of imagery or language.
Teach AIs forgetfulness could make them better at their jobs|Devin Coldewey|May 14, 2021|TechCrunch

British Dictionary definitions for terabyte

terabyte

/ (ˈtɛrəˌbaɪt) /

noun

computing 10 12 or 2 40 bytes

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

Scientific definitions for terabyte

terabyte

[ tĕr′ə-bīt′ ]

A unit of computer memory or data storage capacity equal to 1,024 gigabytes (240 bytes).

One trillion bytes. See Note at megabyte.