Nearby Words
n
noun
1.
knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or circumstance; news: information concerning a crime.
2.
knowledge gained through study, communication, research, instruction, etc.; factual data: His wealth of general information is amazing.
3.
the act or fact of informing.
4.
EXPANDan office, station, service, or employee whose function is to provide information to the public: The ticket seller said to ask information for a timetable.
6.
Law.
a.
an official criminal charge presented, usually by the prosecuting officers of the state, without the interposition of a grand jury.
b.
a criminal charge, made by a public official under oath before a magistrate, of an offense punishable summarily.
c.
the document containing the depositions of witnesses against one accused of a crime.
7.
(in information theory) an indication of the number of possible choices of messages, expressible as the value of some monotonic function of the number of choices, usually the logarithm to the base 2.
8.
COLLAPSEComputers.
a.
important or useful facts obtained as output from a computer by means of processing input data with a program: Using the input data, we have come up with some significant new information.
b.
data at any stage of processing (input, output, storage, transmission, etc.).
Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English: instruction, teaching, a forming of the mind < Medieval Latin, Latin: idea, conception. See inform1, -ation
1350–1400; Middle English: instruction, teaching, a forming of the mind < Medieval Latin, Latin: idea, conception. See inform1, -ation
Related forms
in·for·ma·tion·al, adjective
non·in·for·ma·tion·al, adjective
Synonyms
1. data, facts, intelligence, advice. 2. Information, knowledge, wisdom are terms for human acquirements through reading, study, and practical experience. Information applies to facts told, read, or communicated that may be unorganized and even unrelated: to pick up useful information. Knowledge is an organized body of information, or the comprehension and understanding consequent on having acquired and organized a body of facts: a knowledge of chemistry. Wisdom is a knowledge of people, life, and conduct, with the facts so thoroughly assimilated as to have produced sagacity, judgment, and insight: to use wisdom in handling people.
1. data, facts, intelligence, advice. 2. Information, knowledge, wisdom are terms for human acquirements through reading, study, and practical experience. Information applies to facts told, read, or communicated that may be unorganized and even unrelated: to pick up useful information. Knowledge is an organized body of information, or the comprehension and understanding consequent on having acquired and organized a body of facts: a knowledge of chemistry. Wisdom is a knowledge of people, life, and conduct, with the facts so thoroughly assimilated as to have produced sagacity, judgment, and insight: to use wisdom in handling people.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Information
is always a great word to know.
So is evidence. Does it mean:
| the finding or answer of a jury given to the court concerning a matter submitted to their judgment |
| data presented to a court or jury in proof of the facts in issue and which may include the testimony of witnesses, records, documents, or objects |
Collins
World English Dictionary
| information (ˌɪnfəˈmeɪʃən) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | knowledge acquired through experience or study |
| 2. | knowledge of specific and timely events or situations; news |
| 3. | the act of informing or the condition of being informed |
| 4. | a. an office, agency, etc, providing information |
| b. (as modifier): information service | |
| 5. | a. a charge or complaint made before justices of the peace, usually on oath, to institute summary criminal proceedings |
| b. a complaint filed on behalf of the Crown, usually by the attorney general | |
| 6. | computing |
| a. the meaning given to data by the way in which it is interpreted | |
| b. another word for data | |
| 7. | informal too much information I don't want to hear any more |
| infor'mational | |
| —adj | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
information
late 14c., "act of informing," from O.Fr. informacion, from L. informationem (nom. informatio) "outline, concept, idea," noun of action from informare (see inform). Meaning "knowledge communicated" is from c.1450. Short form info is attested from 1906. Infomercial (with commercial)
EXPANDand infotainment (with entertainment) are from 1983. Before infomercial was the print form, advertorial (1961).
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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FOLDOC
Computing Dictionary
information definition
dataThe result of applying data processing to data, giving it context and meaning. Information can then be further processed to yeild knowledge.
People or computers can find patterns in data to perceive information, and information can be used to enhance knowledge. Since knowledge is prerequisite to wisdom, we always want more data and information. But, as modern societies verge on information overload, we especially need better ways to find patterns.
1234567.89 is data.
"Your bank balance has jumped 8087% to $1234567.89" is information.
"Nobody owes me that much money" is knowledge.
"I'd better talk to the bank before I spend it, because of what has happened to other people" is wisdom.
(2007-09-10)
American Heritage
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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