/ ˈdeɪtə; NAmE ; BrE also ˈdɑːtə; NAmE also ˈdætə/ noun (used as a plural noun in technical English, when the singular is datum )
1.
[ U , pl. ] facts or information, especially when examined and used to find out things or to make decisions :
This data was collected from 69 countries.
the analysis / interpretation of the data
raw data (= that has not been analysed)
demographical / historical / personal data
( technical )
These data show that most cancers are detected as a result of clinical follow-up.
2.
[ U ] information that is stored by a computer :
data retrieval (= ways of storing or finding information on a computer)
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WORD ORIGIN
mid 17th cent. (as a term in philosophy): from Latin , plural of datum .