information
/ɪnfəˈmeɪʃ(ə)n
/noun [mass noun]
1Facts provided or learned about something or someone: a vital piece of information...
- The unit will provide information and advice to members of the public on their rights and entitlements.
- Facts provide information which is free from the contamination of a subjective viewpoint.
- They will also be consulted on plans for future developments and receive regular information about the hospital.
Synonyms
details, particulars, facts, figures, statistics, data;
knowledge, intelligence;
instruction, advice, guidance, direction, counsel, enlightenment;
news, notice, word;
material, documentation, documents
informal info, gen, the low-down, the dope, the inside story, the latest, bumf, deets
1.1 [count noun] Law A charge lodged with a magistrates' court: the tenant may lay an information against his landlord...
- The rule developed during a period of extreme formality and technicality in the preferring of indictments and laying of informations.
- However, the duty of the court is to hear informations which are properly before it.
- The Local Court Magistrate quashed and declared void the informations.
2What is conveyed or represented by a particular arrangement or sequence of things: genetically transmitted information...
- Nearly half are sensory which convey information to the brain; the rest are motor which transmit orders from the brain.
- Topic Maps are useful because they convey more information we can use.
- The bandwidth constraints of the internet force us to find more concise ways to represent information.
2.1 Computing Data as processed, stored, or transmitted by a computer.All the cards contain a computer chip which stores information, such as what type of meal has been purchased by the pupil....
- Although the hardware is still at a very basic stage, the theory of how quantum computers process information is well advanced.
- At that price, he reasoned, it would finally be cheaper to store information on computer than it is on paper.
2.2(In information theory) a mathematical quantity expressing the probability of occurrence of a particular sequence of symbols, impulses, etc., as against that of alternative sequences.
Origin
Late Middle English (also in the sense 'formation of the mind, teaching'), via Old French from Latin informatio(n-), from the verb informare (see inform).