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information

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Information

English

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Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₁én
Proto-Italic *en
Proto-Italic *en-
Late Latin in-
Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ)der.?
Late Latin fōrma
Late Latin fōrmō
Late Latin īnfōrmō
Proto-Indo-European *-tis
Proto-Indo-European *-Hō
Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō
Proto-Italic *-tiō
Late Latin -tiō
Late Latin īnfōrmātiōder.
Middle English enformacioun
English information

    From Middle English enformacioun, informacioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman informacioun, enformation, Old French information, from Latin īnfōrmātiō (“formation, conception; education”), from the participle stem of īnformāre (“to inform”). Equivalent to inform +‎ -ation.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    information (usually uncountable, plural informations)

    1. Something that provides a definitive characterization or description of the nature and attributes of a specified entity.
      • 2018, Steven Pinker, “Chapter 2: Entro, Evo, Info”, in Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, Penguin, →ISBN:
        And now we come to the third keystone, information.⁸ Information may be thought of as a reduction in entropy—as the ingredient that distinguishes an orderly, structured system from the vast set of random, useless ones.⁹ Imagine pages of random characters tapped out by a monkey at a typewriter, or a stretch of white noise from a radio tuned between channels, or a screenful of confetti from a corrupted computer file. Each of these objects can take trillions of different forms, each as boring as the next. But now suppose that the devices are controlled by a signal that arranges the characters or sound waves or pixels into a pattern that correlates with something in the world: the Declaration of Independence, the opening bars of “Hey Jude,” a cat wearing sunglasses. We say that the signal transmits information about the Declaration or the song or the cat.¹⁰
    2. Things that are or can be known about a given topic; communicable knowledge of something. [from 14th c.]
      I need some more information about this issue.
      • 1592, Henry IV of France, A Discourse of the Great Overthrow‎[2], page 2:
        And ſo much yet did this contagion breake foorth to the harme of manie Inhabitants of his Towne, who affected the Vicont, that they which were encountred by the kinges troupes, (information being geuen of their demeanor) they were iudged to be of good prize, and voluntarely paid ranſom.
      • (Can we date this quote?), Wynnard Hooper, “Population”, in The Encyclopædia Britannica […] , Ninth edition, Volume XI, Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, page 513, column 2:
        It is usual to obtain by means of a census a good deal of information beyond the bare fact of the number of persons whose existence is, for the purposes of the census, taken cognizance of. Part of this information is obtained for purposes connected with the administration of the state, such as that contained in replies to questions as to the religion, profession, &c., of the individuals numbered.
      • 2021, Donald J. Trump, Executive Order 13971 (Addressing the Threat Posed by Applications and Other Software Developed or Controlled by Chinese Companies)‎[3]:
        By accessing personal electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers, Chinese connected software applications can access and capture vast swaths of information from users, including sensitive personally identifiable information and private information. This data collection threatens to provide the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information—which would permit China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, and build dossiers of personal information.
    3. The act of informing or imparting knowledge; notification. [from 14th c.]
      For your information, I did this because I wanted to.
      • 1903–1909, “Extracto de una carta (Extract of a letter from the Indies)”, in Emma Helen Blair, James Alexander Robertson, editors, The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898‎[4], volume 1, pages 297-299:
        At this time a great uneasiness became manifest among the Castilians, and it was rumored that Magallanes was going to deliver them over to the Portuguese; and they resolved to mutiny and seize the ships. Magallanes upon obtaining information of this was sorely grieved. He summoned the guilty ones before him one by one, but they flatly refused to come.
    4. (law, countable) A statement of criminal activity brought before a judge or magistrate; in the UK, used to inform a magistrate of an offence and request a warrant; in the US, an accusation brought before a judge without a grand jury indictment. [from 15th c.]
      • 1830, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Concerning the Right Idea of the Constitution”, in On the Constitution of the Church and State, according to the Idea of Each: […], London: Hurst, Chance, and Co., →OCLC, footnote *, page 19:
        That friend, […] added, with a smile, that he had more than once amused himself with the thought of a verbarian Attorney-General, authorized to bring informations ex officio against the writer or editor of any work in extensive circulation, who, after due notice issued, should persevere in misusing a word.
      • 1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Church-yard. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC:
        'We have another deposition, doctor, to take; Mr. Irons, here, is prepared to swear informations of very singular importance.'
      • 1968, Carl B. Cone, The English Jacobins, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 131:
        On May 21, 1792, the Attorney General filed an information against Paine charging him with seditious libel.
      • 2011, Daniel E. Hall, Criminal Law and Procedure:
        The second formal method of charging someone with a crime is by information. Informations are filed by prosecutors without grand jury review.
    5. (obsolete) The act of informing against someone, passing on incriminating knowledge; accusation. [14th–17th c.]
    6. (now rare) The systematic imparting of knowledge; education, training. [from 14th c.]
    7. (now rare) The creation of form; the imparting of a given quality or characteristic; forming, animation. [from 17th c.]
    8. (computing, formally) The meaning that a human assigns to data by means of the known conventions used in its representation.
    9. (Christianity) Divine inspiration. [from 15th c.]
    10. A service provided by telephone which provides listed telephone numbers of a subscriber. [from 20th c.]
    12. (information theory) Any unambiguous abstract data, the smallest possible unit being the bit. [from 20th c.]
    13. (computing, data management) The output resulting from the systematic collection, manipulation and organization of raw data into a structured, interpretable format. [from late 20th c.]
    14. (information technology) Any ordered sequence of symbols (or signals) (that could contain a message). [from late 20th c.]

    Usage notes

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    • The definition of information in the computing context is from an international standard vocabulary which, though formally accepted, is largely ignored by the computing profession.[1]

    Hyponyms

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    Derived terms

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    Compound words and expressions

    Translations

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    See also

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    References

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    1. ^ W. N. Holmes (2001-05), “The Great Term Robbery”, in Computer‎[1], volume 34, number 5, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 94–96

    Further reading

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    Danish

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    Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia da

    Etymology

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    Borrowed from Latin informatiō, informatiōnis.

    Noun

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    information c (singular definite informationen, plural indefinite informationer)

    1. (a piece of) information

    Inflection

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    Declension of information
    common
    gender     		singular plural
    indefinite definite indefinite definite
    nominative information informationen informationer informationerne
    genitive informations informationens informationers informationernes

    Derived terms

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    French

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    Etymology

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    Inherited from Old French, borrowed from Latin īnfōrmātiōnem.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    information f (plural informations)

    1. (countable) piece of information; datum
      Cette information nous est parvenue hier soir.
      This piece of information reached us last night.
    2. (plural only) news
      Tous les jours, il regarde la télé le midi pour suivre les informations.
      Every day, he watches TV at noon to catch the news.
    3. (uncountable) information
      Théorie de l'information.
      Theory of information

    Synonyms

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    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    • Haitian Creole: enfòmasyon

    Further reading

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    Middle English

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    Noun

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    information

    1. alternative form of enformacioun

    Swedish

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from Latin informatiō, informatiōnis.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    information c

    1. information

    Declension

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    Declension of information
    nominative genitive
    singular indefinite information informations
    definite informationen informationens
    plural indefinite informationer informationers
    definite informationerna informationernas
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    References

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