Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A fact or proposition used to draw a conclusion or make a decision.
- noun A point, line, or surface used as a reference, as in surveying, mapping, or geology.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A fact given; originally, one of the quantities stated, or one of the geometrical figures supposed constructed, in a mathematical problem, and from which the required magnitude or figure is to be determined.
- noun A fact either indubitably known or treated as such for the purposes of a particular discussion; a premise.
- noun A position of reference, by which other positions are defined.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Something given or admitted; a fact or principle granted; that upon which an inference or an argument is based; -- used chiefly in the plural.
- noun a single piece of information; a fact; especially a piece of information obtained by observation or experiment; -- used mostly in the plural.
- noun (Math.) The quantities or relations which are assumed to be given in any problem.
- noun (Surveying) a point, line, or level surface used as a reference in measuring elevations.
- noun (Surv.) the horizontal or base line, from which the heights of points are reckoned or measured, as in the plan of a railway, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
measurement of something on ascale understood by both therecorder (a person or device) and thereader (another person or device). The scale is arbitrarily defined, such as from 1 to 10 by ones, 1 to 100 by 0.1, or simply true or false, on or off, yes, no, or maybe, etc. - noun (
philosophy ) A fact known from direct observation. - noun (
philosophy ) A premise from which conclusions are drawn. - noun (
cartography ,engineering ) A fixed reference point.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an item of factual information derived from measurement or research
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Mr. Smith's method of proving that every circle is 3-1/8 diameters is to assume that it is so, -- "if you dislike the term datum, then, by hypothesis, let 8 circumferences be exactly equal to 25 diameters," -- and then to show that every other supposition is thereby made absurd.
A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II (of II) Augustus De Morgan 1838
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Because, according to our assumptions, the average value of a single datum is greater than the marginal value of that datum (remember, aggregation adds value), a consumer will always be willing to sell data at a price a merchant is willing to pay.
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Your name will be just a datum until that datum is lost, at which point you will be nothing.
Contentment 2009
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Your name will be just a datum until that datum is lost, at which point you will be nothing.
Contentment 2009
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Unfortunately, if the marginal value175 to the consumer of a given datum is small, then the value of not disclosing that datum will in most cases be lower than either the cost of negotiating a confidentiality clause (if that option even exists), or the cost of forgoing the entire transaction.
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The key datum is marked by the arrow - the concrete rendering of the closed-up opening - which we can see in another picture.
You thought it was over? Richard 2006
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The “Greek” word data is the plural of the Latin word datum – a given….
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Gee, I wonder which datum is a more relevant measure of the insurance companies’ position on the bill.
Matthew Yglesias » Health Care Plan Getting More Popular 2010
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The biggest stone ball, according to the UDG, is right in this area at 13 Q 598163 2284135 (if they were using WGS84 as a datum, which is not mentioned).
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The biggest stone ball, according to the UDG, is right in this area at 13 Q 598163 2284135 (if they were using WGS84 as a datum, which is not mentioned).
chelt commented on the word datum
The singular form of "data" is "piece of data."
January 2, 2007
uselessness commented on the word datum
"Data" is definitely singular. For the plural, try "dati." Or "datas." Or if you're really feeling edgy, "datulumsicles."
January 3, 2007
toner commented on the word datum
A datum (plural datums) is a reference from which measurements are made.
January 4, 2007
wordnikette commented on the word datum
Example: Beware of false datum.
July 29, 2022