How would you describe data?

The definition is below but to us at Red Olive, it’s so much more than this. 

[dey-tuh, datuh, dah-tuh]

–noun

1. a plural of datum.

2. (used with a plural verb ) individual facts, statistics, or items of information: These data represent the results of our analyses. Data are entered by terminal for immediate processing by the computer.

3. (used with a singular verb ) a body of facts; information: Additional data is available from the president of the firm.

Use data in a Sentence

—Related forms

pre·da·ta, noun

—Can be confused: data, datum (see usage note at the current entry ).

—Usage note

Data  is a plural of datum,  which is originally a Latin noun meaning ‘something given’. Today, data  is used in English both as a plural noun meaning ‘facts or pieces of information’ and as a singular mass noun meaning ‘information’. It is almost always treated as a plural in scientific and academic writing. In other types of writing it is either singular or plural. The singular datum  meaning ‘a piece of information’ is now rare in all types of writing. In surveying and civil engineering, where datum  has specialised senses, the plural form is datums.