Standard Lemma guide

database

noun · verb · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australian, Ireland, New-Zealand, UK: /ˈdeɪtəˌbeɪs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈdeɪtəˌbeɪs/
  • US: [ˈdeɪɾəˌbeɪs]
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, US: /ˈdætəˌbeɪs/
  • Canada, US: [ˈdæɾəˌbeɪs]
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Ireland: /ˈdæːtəˌbeːs/
  • Australian, General-South-African, New-Zealand, UK: /ˈdɑːtəˌbeɪs/
  • CMU ARPABET: D EY1 T AH0 B EY2 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: D AE1 T AH0 B EY2 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A collection of (usually) organized information in a regular structure, usually but not necessarily in a machine-readable format accessible by a computer.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

Examples

  • I have a database of all my contacts in my personal organizer.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A set of tables and other objects (queries, reports, forms) in the form of a structured data set.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

Examples

  • The "books" database will have three tables, and the "customers" database will have two tables.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A software program (application) for storing, retrieving and manipulating such a structured data set.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, metonymically

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

Examples

  • Which database do you use: MySQL or Oracle?

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A combination of such data sets and the programs for using them.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, metonymically

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To enter (data) into a database.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

an organized body of related information

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: information, info

Narrower terms: list, listing, electronic database, on-line database, computer database, electronic information service, subdata base

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *deh3-redup. Proto-Indo-European *-ti Proto-Indo-European *dédeh3ti Proto-Italic *didō Latin dō Latin datusnom. Latin datumbor. English data Proto-Indo-European *gwem- Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *gwémtis Proto-Hellenic *gwə́tis Ancient Greek βᾰ́σῐς (bắsĭs)bor. Latin basis Old French basebor. Middle English base English base English database From data + base.

Across languages

Translations

185 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: databasis — collection of information
  • Albanian: bazë të dhënash — collection of information
  • Arabic: قَاعِدَة بَيَانَات (qāʕidat bayānāt) — collection of information
  • Armenian: տվյալների բազա (tvyalneri baza) — collection of information
  • Azerbaijani: məlumat bazası — collection of information
  • Azerbaijani: verilənlər bazası — collection of information
  • Basque: datu-base — collection of information
  • Belarusian: ба́за да́дзеных (báza dádzjenyx) — collection of information
  • Belarusian: ба́за да́ных (báza dányx) — collection of information
  • Belarusian: ба́за зве́стак (báza zvjéstak) — collection of information
  • Belarusian: ба́за зьве́стак (báza zʹvjéstak) — collection of information
  • Bengali: ডেটাবেজ (ḍeṭabej) — collection of information
  • Bulgarian: ба́за да́нни (báza dánni) — collection of information
  • Bulgarian: ба́за от да́нни (báza ot dánni) — collection of information
  • Burmese: ဒေတာဘေ့စ် (detabhec.) — collection of information
  • Catalan: base de dades — collection of information
  • Chinese Cantonese: 數據庫 /数据库 (sou3 geoi3 fu3) — collection of information
  • Chinese Mandarin: 數據庫 /数据库 (shùjùkù) — collection of information
  • Czech: databáze — collection of information
  • Danish: databank — collection of information
  • Danish: database — collection of information
  • Dutch: database — collection of information
  • Dutch: databank — collection of information
  • Dutch: databasis — collection of information
  • Dutch: gegevensbank — collection of information
  • Esperanto: datumbazo — collection of information
  • Esperanto: datumbanko — collection of information
  • Esperanto: datenbazo — collection of information
  • Estonian: andmebaas — collection of information
  • Finnish: tietokanta — collection of information
  • French: base de données — collection of information
  • French: banque de données — collection of information
  • French: database — collection of information
  • West-Frisian: database — collection of information
  • West-Frisian: databank — collection of information
  • West-Frisian: kennisbank — collection of information
  • Georgian: მონაცემთა ბაზა (monacemta baza) — collection of information
  • German: Datenbank — collection of information
  • Greek: βάση δεδομένων (vási dedoménon) — collection of information
  • Hawaiian: hōkeo ʻikepili — collection of information
  • Hebrew: בְּסִיס נְתוּנִים (besis netunim) — collection of information
  • Hindi: डेटाबेस (ḍeṭābes) — collection of information
  • Hungarian: adatbázis — collection of information
  • Icelandic: gagnagrunnur — collection of information
  • Ido: datumaro — collection of information
  • Indonesian: basis data — collection of information
  • Indonesian: pangkalan data — collection of information
  • Interlingua: base de datos — collection of information
  • Interlingua: database — collection of information
  • Irish: bunachar sonraí — collection of information
  • Italian: database — collection of information
  • Italian: base di dati — collection of information
  • Italian: banca dati — collection of information
  • Italian: archivio — collection of information
  • Japanese: データベース (dētabēsu) — collection of information
  • Kannada: ಡೇಟಾಬೇಸ್ (ḍēṭābēs) — collection of information
  • Kazakh: дерекқор (derekqor) — collection of information
  • Kazakh: деректер базасы (derekter bazasy) — collection of information
  • Khmer: ទិដ្ឋន័យ (tidthɑɑnɨy) — collection of information
  • Korean: 데이터베이스 (deiteobeiseu) — collection of information
  • Northern Kurdish: databas — collection of information
  • Northern Kurdish: danegeh — collection of information
  • Kyrgyz: берилиштер базасы (berilişter bazası) — collection of information
  • Kyrgyz: берилишбаза (berilişbaza) — collection of information
  • Lao: ຖານຂໍ້ມູນ (thān khǭ mūn) — collection of information
  • Latvian: datu bāze — collection of information
  • Lithuanian: duomenų bazė — collection of information
  • Lithuanian: duomenynas — collection of information
  • Macedonian: база на податоци (baza na podatoci) — collection of information
  • Malay: pangkalan data — collection of information
  • Malayalam: ഡാറ്റാബേസ് (ḍāṟṟābēsŭ) — collection of information
  • Māori: putunga hōtuku — collection of information
  • Māori: pātengi raraunga — collection of information
  • Māori: raraunga — collection of information
  • Mongolian: өгөгдлийн сан (ögögdliin san) — collection of information
  • Norwegian Bokmål: database — collection of information
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: database — collection of information
  • Pashto: د ارقامو بانک — collection of information
  • Pashto: د معلوماتو بانک — collection of information
  • Iranian Persian: پایْگاهِ دادِهها (pâygâh-e dâde-hâ) — collection of information
  • Iranian Persian: پایْگاهِدادِه (pâygâh-e-dâde) — collection of information
  • Iranian Persian: بانْکِ اِطِّلاعات (bânk-e ettelâ'ât) — collection of information
  • Iranian Persian: بانْکِ دادِه (bânk-e dâde) — collection of information
  • Polish: baza danych — collection of information
  • Polish: bank danych — collection of information
  • Portuguese: banco de dados — collection of information
  • Portuguese: base de dados — collection of information
  • Romanian: bancă de date — collection of information
  • Romanian: bază de date — collection of information
  • Russian: ба́за да́нных (báza dánnyx) — collection of information
  • Sanskrit: दत्तनिधि (dattanidhi) — collection of information
  • Scottish Gaelic: stòr-dàta — collection of information
  • Serbo-Croatian: база података — collection of information
  • Serbo-Croatian: baza podataka — collection of information
  • Sindhi: اعدادخانو (āʻdādxāno) — collection of information
  • Sinhalese: දත්ත සංචිතය (datta saṁcitaya) — collection of information
  • Slovak: databáza — collection of information
  • Slovene: podatkovna zbirka — collection of information
  • Spanish: base de datos — collection of information
  • Spanish: banco de datos — collection of information
  • Swahili: hifadhidata — collection of information
  • Swedish: databas — collection of information
  • Tagalog: database — collection of information
  • Tajik: пойгоҳи додаҳо (poygoh-i dodaho) — collection of information
  • Tamil: தரவுத்தளம் (taravuttaḷam) — collection of information
  • Tatar: мәгълүмат базасы (mäğlümat bazası) — collection of information
  • Tatar: бирелмәләр нигезе (birelmälär nigeze) — collection of information
  • Tatar: бирелмәләр базасы (birelmälär bazası) — collection of information
  • Telugu: డేటాబేస్ (ḍēṭābēs) — collection of information
  • Thai: ฐานข้อมูล (tǎan-kɔ̂ɔ-muun) — collection of information
  • Turkish: veritabanı — collection of information
  • Turkish: veri tabanı — collection of information
  • Turkmen: maglumatlar binýady — collection of information
  • Ukrainian: ба́за да́них (báza dányx) — collection of information
  • Urdu: ڈیٹابیس (ḍeṭābes) — collection of information
  • Urdu: ڈیٹا بیس (ḍeṭā bes) — collection of information
  • Urdu: ذخیرہ معلومات (zaxīra-e-mālūmāt) — collection of information
  • Urdu: شماریاتی ذخیرہ (śumāriyātī-zaxīra) — collection of information
  • Urdu: اعداد خانہ (ādād-xāna) — collection of information
  • Urdu: ذخیرہ اعدادیات (zaxīra-e-ā'dādiyāt) — collection of information
  • Urdu: ذخیرہ اعداد و شمار (zaxīra-e-ā'dād-o-śumār) — collection of information
  • Urdu: ذخیرہ معطیات (zaxīra-e-mu'tiyāt) — collection of information
  • Urdu: کوائفیہ (kawā'ifiya) — collection of information
  • Urdu: قاعدہ معطیات (qā'ida-e-mu'tiyāt) — collection of information
  • Uyghur: مەلۇمات ئامبىرى (melumat ambiri) — collection of information
  • Uyghur: سانلىق مەلۇمات ئامبىرى (sanliq melumat ambiri) — collection of information
  • Uzbek: maʻlumotlar bazasi — collection of information
  • Vietnamese: cơ sở dữ liệu — collection of information
  • Vietnamese: CSDL — collection of information
  • Volapük: nünodem — collection of information
  • Welsh: data-bas — collection of information
  • Welsh: cronfa ddata — collection of information
  • Arabic: قَاعِدَة بَيَانَات (qāʕidat bayānāt) — software program
  • Azerbaijani: verilənlər bazası — software program
  • Basque: data-base — software program
  • Bulgarian: ба́за да́нни (báza dánni) — software program
  • Catalan: base de dades — software program
  • Chinese Cantonese: 數據庫 /数据库 (sou3 geoi3 fu3) — software program
  • Chinese Mandarin: 數據庫 /数据库 (shùjùkù) — software program
  • Czech: databáze — software program
  • Danish: database — software program
  • Dutch: database — software program
  • Dutch: databank — software program
  • Esperanto: datumbazo — software program
  • Esperanto: datumbanko — software program
  • Esperanto: datenbazo — software program
  • Finnish: tietokantaohjelma — software program
  • Finnish: tietokanta — software program
  • French: base de données — software program
  • French: database — software program
  • French: banque de données — software program
  • Georgian: მონაცემთა ბაზა (monacemta baza) — software program
  • German: Datenbank — software program
  • Greek: βάση δεδομένων (vási dedoménon) — software program
  • Hebrew: בְּסִיס נְתוּנִים (besis netunim) — software program
  • Hindi: डेटाबेस (ḍeṭābes) — software program
  • Indonesian: basis data — software program
  • Indonesian: pangkalan data — software program
  • Interlingua: base de datos — software program
  • Interlingua: database — software program
  • Irish: bunachar sonraí — software program
  • Italian: database — software program
  • Italian: base di dati — software program
  • Japanese: データベース (dētabēsu) — software program
  • Korean: 데이터베이스 (deiteobeiseu) — software program
  • Latvian: datu bāze — software program
  • Malay: pangkalan data — software program
  • Polish: baza danych — software program
  • Polish: bank danych — software program
  • Portuguese: banco de dados — software program
  • Portuguese: base de dados — software program
  • Romanian: bază de date — software program
  • Russian: ба́за да́нных (báza dánnyx) — software program
  • Scottish Gaelic: stòr-dàta — software program
  • Serbo-Croatian: база података — software program
  • Serbo-Croatian: baza podataka — software program
  • Spanish: base de datos — software program
  • Swahili: hifadhidata — software program
  • Swedish: databas — software program
  • Swedish: databasprogram — software program
  • Ukrainian: ба́за да́них (báza dányx) — software program
  • Vietnamese: cơ sở dữ liệu — software program
  • Vietnamese: CSDL — software program
  • Walloon: båze di dnêyes — software program
  • Walloon: fond di dnêyes — software program
Real reading context

database in complete knowledge articles