Compute

//kəmˈpjuːt// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Computational processing power. uncountable

    "The GPU does not have enough on-chip SRAM memory for the parameters, and doesn't have enough compute for the entire model."

Verb
  1. 1
    To reckon, calculate. transitive

    "Can anyone here compute the square root of 10201?"

  2. 2
    make a mathematical calculation or computation wordnet
  3. 3
    To make sense. (commonly used in mimicry of a science fictional robot and spoken in a robotic voice; most frequently in negative constructs) informal, intransitive

    "Does that compute, or do I need to explain further?"

Synonyms

All synonyms
calculateaddadd upalgebraizeappraiseappreciate

Example

More examples

"Scientists can easily compute the distance between planets."

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Latin com- Proto-Italic *putos Latin putus? Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin putō Latin computō Proto-Italic *-āzi ▲ Latin -ereinflu. Latin -āre Latin computārelbor. French computerbor. English compute 17th century. Borrowed from French computer, from Latin computō (“calculate, compute”). Doublet of count.

Related phrases

computed axial tomographycomputed tomographydoes not computetest-time computemake sense

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.