information
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: Christianity
computing
engineering
information-technology
information-theory
law
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
Etymology: 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.
Base: inform
Affixes: -ation
Inflected forms:
form: informations
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Something that provides a definitive characterization or description of the nature and attributes of a specified entity.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
examples: 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
gloss: Things that are or can be known about a given topic; communicable knowledge of something.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
examples: I need some more information about this issue.
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.
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.
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.
gloss: The act of informing or imparting knowledge; notification.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
examples: For your information, I did this because I wanted to.
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.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
usually
examples: 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.
'We have another deposition, doctor, to take; Mr. Irons, here, is prepared to swear informations of very singular importance.'
On May 21, 1792, the Attorney General filed an information against Paine charging him with seditious libel.
The second formal method of charging someone with a crime is by information. Informations are filed by prosecutors without grand jury review.
gloss: The act of informing against someone, passing on incriminating knowledge; accusation.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
uncountable
usually
gloss: The systematic imparting of knowledge; education, training.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
uncountable
usually
gloss: The creation of form; the imparting of a given quality or characteristic; forming, animation.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
uncountable
usually
gloss: The meaning that a human assigns to data by means of the known conventions used in its representation.
pos: noun
tags: formal
uncountable
usually
gloss: Divine inspiration.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
examples: But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
gloss: A service provided by telephone which provides listed telephone numbers of a subscriber.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
gloss: Any unambiguous abstract data, the smallest possible unit being the bit.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
gloss: The output resulting from the systematic collection, manipulation and organization of raw data into a structured, interpretable format.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
gloss: Any ordered sequence of symbols (or signals) (that could contain a message).
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
Related words: exformation
inform
informant
informatics
knowledge
information model
information overload
information retrieval
information science
information security
information society
information superhighway
information symmetry
information system
information technology
information theory
information velocity
Derived words: advermation
aesthetic information
Akaike information criterion
bioinformation
black information
chief information officer
counterinformation
cyberinformation
disinformation
esthetic information
Fisher information
flight information region
for your information
freedom of information
FYI
geographic information science
geographic information system
geoinformation
hyperinformation
info
infobesity
infocommunications
infodemic
infoganda
infohazard
infomediary
infomercial
informational
information and communications technology
information arbitrage
information assurance
information deficit model
information design
information desk
information drive
information engine
information entropy
information fatigue
information fatigue syndrome
information float
information hazard
information hiding
information highway
information impactedness
information integrity
informationism
informationist
informationization
informationize
informationless
information literacy
information management
information market
information modeling
information processing
information radiator
information scent
information silo
information space
information studies
information technology bubble
information-theoretic death
information warfare
informetrics
infotainment
infotisement
infotopia
infoxication
inside information
library and information science
low-information
malinformation
metainformation
misinformation
mutual information
neuroinformation
noninformation
outformation
patient information leaflet
postinformation
public information officer
quantum information science
quantum information theory
sensitive compartmented information
Shannon information
superinformation
super-information
too much information
transinformation
uninformation
which-path information
white information English terms starting with
Translations: