Metadata

//ˈmɛt.əˌdeɪ.tə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Data that describes other data, serving as an informative label. uncountable

    "Most websites contain metadata to tell the computer how to lay out the content on the screen."

  2. 2
    data about data wordnet
  3. 3
    Structured information about a file (date created, creator, software used to create, last modified, file format, file fingerprint, etc). uncountable

    "That photo's metadata suggests it was edited using Photoshop."

Example

More examples

"The existing grid mechanism is used to provide a metadata registry. It defines high level APIs that manage transaction-based replication across multiple domains and move legacy software to the grid smoothly."

Etymology

From meta- + data.

Related phrases

metadata registry

More for "metadata"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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